We normally rent a car when we return to O'ahu, but this time we decided to challenge ourselves and rely solely on the bus. When I lived on O'ahu, there was a period of two years that I didn’t have a car, so I knew we could get around quite easily, with a bit of walking too. We found it to be quite easy and while it took a bit more time to get to the places we wanted to go, it worked, while saving us a good amount of money on a car rental.
First things first, you have several options for the bus: pay cash or get a daily or weekly bus pass.
Cash Fare: the cash fare is $3.00 per segment. Note that if you took the bus in the past, you could get a transfer if your next segment was within a certain amount of time. This no longer applies. Each segment is now its own fare when paying cash.
Holo Card: a Holo card will cost $2.00 and then you load specific amounts or passes. The fare is $3.00 and includes unlimited transfers for 2.5 hours. There is also a daily cap of $7.50. You can alternately load a daily or weekly pass for $7.00/daily and $30.00/weekly.
Pre-loaded Holo cards with a daily pass may be purchased at any ABC Store, which is convenient because they are everywhere. However, weekly passes can only be purchased at an authorized location below. We opted to go to the Foodland at Ala Moana Center since we had some shopping to do too.
Once you have your Holo card, you can reload it online by creating an account at www.holocard.net or going to any of the retailers listed above.
Ok, with that out of the way, let’s move on to riding the bus. Our first bus journey - Daniel K. Inouye International Airport to our hotel in Waikīkī. There are three bus stops at the airport - one at the Interisland Terminal on the island across from the departure/check-in area; and two at the International Terminal located on the departure level - one at the West end at Lobby 4, and one at the East end, Lobby 7. You’ll need to cross over to the island median to reach the bus stops.
If you’re going to Waikīkī, you’ll catch bus #20, which takes about an hour and fifteen minutes. It stops in Chinatown, downtown Honolulu, Kaka’ako, Ala Moana and various stops in Waikīkī. Returning to the airport, you’ll take the same bus, opposite direction, of course.
The bus system on O'ahu is very efficient, but like most public transportation systems, it can run late and has its own set of issues. Overall, it works quite well. You’ll find a route to just about anywhere on the island you’d like to get to, except for places like Ka’ena Point - the bus will only take you so far and it’s by foot from there. Great place to hike for sure!
As mentioned before, it will take a bit more time to get where you are going. For example, the drive to Hale'iwa from the airport by car will take around 40 minutes. By bus, you’re looking at roughly an hour and a half. From Waikīkī, that will take 2.5 hours.
So you can expect to add some extra travel time to your day. If you decide to bus it to the North Shore, there are some great stops along the way to break up the trip.
We planned around the bus schedule and chose a hostel in Pupukea just fifteen minutes East of Hale'iwa Town. It was conveniently located on Kamehameha Highway right on the bus line. This made it extremely convenient to get where we wanted to go. Fifteen minutes to the East was Turtle Bay, and an hour and a half to Kualoa Ranch.
Being so conveniently located afforded us the opportunity to visit a number of places without spending too much time on the bus. We spent some time hiking the trails at Turtle Bay, rode the bus to visit a coffee farm in Wahiawā, spent an afternoon in Hale'iwa, and even ended up taking the wrong bus at one point. It cost us an hour, but we decided it was all part of the adventure.
If you’re up to a challenge, consider taking the bus on your next visit to O'ahu. By the way, we went to Kaua'i the following week and chose to ride the bus once again and it was another great adventure!
For all bus routes and more information, visit the The Bus website at https://www.thebus.org.
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