Your question was for solely me.   I answered it.

with your narrow purview of commuting

Did you even ride it before you judged?

Coming from an area where this thing will do nothing to improve our commute, I would say all the riding in the world will not change one's opinion of it one bit.

They're doing damage control. This mornings news said that once the rail is 100% operational, it will be the cheapest rail in the nation.

Lol!

Same people who told us how much it would cost, how long construction would take, how much traffic it would eliminate from roadways, etc., etc.?

Latest estimate for 100% operation of The Rail is 2031. Who's paying the bills for the next 8 years?

In the words of our lovable Gomer Pyle:

"Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!!!"

:rofl:You gotta envision the future.

In my opinion if you want to see Hawaii's future just look at S.F. now.

I'll clarify about the traffic. The traffic gridlock is west and east bound on H1 coming into and out of Honolulu. I commute from the west. Years ago I averaged my speed in the evening and morning commutes to be around 20mph for a distance of about 14 miles, which equates to about 45 minutes commute time. Figure I needed a new mode of transportation. An ebike is my solution. Not as comfortable as a car and I have been hit twice by vehicles over the years. Fortunately no hospitalization. And It sucks in the rain. And by the way, my second battery is on the decline after 2 years and about 3000 miles; so I don't e-commute much as I did.
Since the opening of our coveted, most-expensive rail in the WORLD there has been no affect on traffic. Now our officials say wait till the school year starts. That's a dumb answer. The rail doesn't go to UH. The colleges that it does pass are not feasible.

We love our cars and trucks. It would take a solution that makes the commute more valuable than driving in our beloved cars and trucks. In my small circle of social interaction, my friends all drive SUVs. The high gas prices don't faze them much - their saying is" "More smiles per gallon". Unlike them I got a hybrid a few years ago instead of a brand new 200tree Toyota Tacoma, maybe lifted. If I had gotten a Tacoma I'd rather sit in traffic in that truck. Why because Hawaii loves Tacomas! Why should I make the effort to hop on and off a public, stinky train when I can drive in a personal bubble of a brand new 200tree Toyota Tacoma - maybe lifted.

I voted against the rail. I just hope now that everyone else who did vote for the rail,  takes the rail so I can drive my hybrid or in the near future, Tacoma lifted on a clear and uncongested freeway. So far it doesn't seem that way.

I live and work in town.  If the rail was here I would use it.

So, your opinion is based on how "nice" the train is? 
The station platforms? 
No stinky restrooms? 
Plenty of seating (i.e. not in high demand)?

I find it laughable that you view the train as an experience and not a useful, valuable method of personal transportation.

I'm seriously curious what factors make you think riding the rail to somewhere I don't need to go will change my opinion. 

Do you believe government when they tell you it will solve some portion of the traffic congestion on Oahu?

Are you planning to move out of Honolulu so you can be closer to a rail station on another part of the island -- and become dependent on the rail to get where you need to go?

You seem to have a passionate opinion of how it's government's duty to provide transportation to the public.  Did you ever stop to ask where government gets the money for that?  That money has an additional cost beyond the financial price tag.  That additional expense is the opportunity cost, represented by all the things that $12.5B (to date) could have been used for -- such as fixing the failing sewer and water treatment systems, adding more buses to the fleet for more people to use, etc.

Hawaii government already has one of the highest rated  bus systems in the nation, but not everyone is able to use the bus due to limitations in schedule or routes.  You think $12.5B could have increased ridership?

I can't remember anywhere in the Constitution that said mass transportation is a right of the people.  Can you point that out?  If not, then it's not a "duty" of government.  They build roads and bridges, and they maintain them.  Perhaps that money could have gone toward improvement in those areas?

HART is not trying to provide us a rail to make our lives easier.  They are doing it to try and engineer us out of our cars and trucks.  Fewer people driving avoids finding real solutions for the traffic problem.  As REN stated, if they really wanted to make life easier for the most people, a more sensible route would have been selected.

Students driving/being driven to school is an annual event that increases traffic problems from day one of the new school year and continues until the first major school holiday.  Why didn't they have the rail service more school areas where kids could ride & walk to and from school?

Seem like the only factor for the route was based on who owned the land needed to build it.  Those people received a significant bump from OUR TAXES to buy that land at above market prices.  There was supposed to be an investigation into that, but of course nothing was ever reported on its findings.

That's a major reason for not trusting government.  Not because of every other corrupt and incompetent thing they've done, but for the corrupt and incompetent things they did regarding this project. 

Seem like you are more than willing to forgive everything wrong with the rail project over the last decade plus as long as you can ride the choo choo back and forth for sightseeing.

I bet you can get a really good view of the backed up H-1/H-2 traffic from up there.

Now running, Honolulu Skyline's operating finances are in doubt

https://news.yahoo.com/now-running-honolulu-skylines-operating-160200157.html

Yep.  Everything's in doubt right now.

Except the fact that City Council now makes almost 3 times as much as they used to.

How nice at a time when money is hard to come by.

Maybe somebody figured if we pay them more they will get smarter and find solutions faster.

"Fare revenue typically does not cover all operating and maintenance expenses, " the FTA
told the Star-Advertiser in an email last week. The agency did not respond when asked how
other urban systems typically cover their expenses.

If the reporter had bothered to use Google, they could have answered that question themselves.

The sheer number of mass transit rail systems across the country makes the answer to that question varied.

List of rail transit systems in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_transit_systems_in_the_United_States

As for sources of funding, here's the breakdown from a report by the FTA/DOT:

On average, directly generated revenues, including passenger fares, fund 36.2 percent of public transit
operating expenses in the United States. Local and State sources fund 33.2 percent and 22.8 percent,
respectively; Federal Government sources fund the remaining 7.8 percent.

https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/docs/ntd/data-product/134401/2018-ntst_1.pdf

For Hawaii to continue promising to completely fund the rail with passenger fares is total BS.  I doubt this state will be able to meet the national average of 36.2% of its expenses funded by passenger fares.

tax commuter cars and trucks

I was on H-1 today about 4:15 and it was the usual, bumper to bumper and the skyline whoo hoo!  passed overhead.

I looked carefully and am happy to say in train #2 I saw 3 people.  The others looked empty.

My wife said it's too far to tell and I could be wrong.  I looked at her and laughed.  I told her yes, you are right I could be off by about 2-3 people.

You gotta envision the future . . . dammit.

I really do own a 200three (2003) Toyota Tacoma as my daily driver.   

brand new?
lifted?

I really do own a 200three (2003) Toyota Tacoma as my daily driver.

I bought it brand new in 2003.

another satisfied customer!



That's awesome 20 years ago and still running!

Aaaand now, 2 years later:

My wife and I were in Anna Miller's this morning, eating breakfast.

I watched as the rail train passed by and everytime I looked, there was nobody inside riding.

This is around 8:15 am till about 9:30 when we left.

We made a game out of it.  Everytime there is nobody inside as it passes, I get even money pay-out.  If there is people in it, the payout is 10 to one for every person in it.

I took the nobody inside wager and my wife took the 10 to one wager.

She never won.

Our taxmoney at work, guys.

Rode it for shits and giggles last month. Boarded in Waipahu and once we got rolling the cars began to shake back and forth pretty bad for about a mile. Guess they hired cross eyed spazos to lay the track! What a friggin joke. I’m not impressed! 

I haven't rode it but seen it passing by at various hours and days in Waipahu, Kapolei, and aiea and from no one on to a few people. This wasn't during morning weekdays or 5pm weekdays.