The modal choice was really important in the case of Oahu transit; they sure seemed to have not thought it out.

If subway is a problem why even start using ghetto BART as a template for HART?

[www.eastbaytimes.com]

BART is a extremely noisy and expensive system - why would you want so much noise on an elevated ROW where it will be propagated in one of the world's premiere tourist attractions? They should certainly have considered rubber tyre which is much quieter and with no tunnel the issues of rubber dust and smoke from a possible tire fire not a problem. And with a busway they could have gone to ground with extensions of service on local roads, such as to Ewa Beach.

Hawaii has social issues; so some union operators not a bad thing. Certainly a payroll not anywhere approaching that of BART. BART operators do not do much, are making a lot of money, much more than many of the passengers. Plus Oahu has tourist spending, which can be used to subsidize those relatively limited union transit operator jobs.

In the end real versatile OCS light rail would have been the best option, since they went for steel wheel in the end anyway. I wonder who was against it. I guess maybe if they changed their mind they could slap some pantographs on their 3rd rail equipment, especially if the driverless proves problematical and they have to put operators back in the cars.