The city of Honolulu is located on the island of Oahu. It is not only the State capitol of Hawaii but it is also the largest city in the Hawaiian Islands. The city is 89 sq. mi. and has a population of 390,738. It is predominantly a streetcar suburb city with a few areas that are pedestrian oriented, such as the beaches, various large parks, and Chinatown. Since Honolulu and Waikiki (a neighborhood in Honolulu) are both popular tourist attractions there is a lot of tourist transportation including double-decker busses and trolley cars. In the 1800s King Kamehameha and his royal court occupied Honolulu and over time it became a city where a majority of the island residents work and/or go to school and the tourists come to vacation. Because many locals cannot afford to live in Honolulu traffic is a growing problem not only downtown but also throughout the island of Oahu. I have lived on Oahu for nine years and I have only been downtown about 20 times. That is how frustrating it is to get around in Honolulu.
I think Honolulu needs to implement a strategy like Copenhagen did by slowly pushing out the cars and supporting bicycles and walking. The one thing that Honolulu has that many places don't is beautiful weather year round. It's the perfect climate for people to be outside all the time. Hawaii is one of the 10 least obese states in the US, meaning that people are very active here, additionally there are also a lot of environmentally conscious people here and a plan that combines environment friendly with exercise would receive a lot of support. The city itself is laid out well to institute biking or walking. The parallel parking on the side of the streets can be turned into a bike lane. With less parking available people will choose alternate transportation. With people out of their cars the business of many shops and restaurants would increase, thus improving the economy and gaining even more support of walking/biking. All the while providing a sustainable means of transportation.
The only other method that was introduced in the module that I believe would work in Honolulu is the congestion pricing that London implemented to cut down on traffic. Taxing seems like such an easy way to solve this problem, and Hawaii loves to implement taxes on anything and everything. With gas at $4.40/gal here the last thing people would want to do is pay extra money to drive. It would make drivers reconsider going downtown, or at least into the most congested places in town. Tourists would likely still drive because it is more convenient and. The money made from taxing drivers should then be used toward the start-up cost of a ferry that will transport passengers from the west side of the island right into downtown. This could be easily done because there are several docks along Honolulu's beachfront. People would then be able to walk to their destination and traffic would improve tremendously.
Hi Alexis, my name is Christine and while reading your entry I found it really interesting, especially since you're from Hawaii. I can't imagine what that would be like; living that close to Honolulu. The traffic and driving situations are really different from where I live. My town is small, and the traffic is low, with a lot of places within walking distance. The population difference is also drastic...I live in an area with about 3,000 people and your city has 300,000. That's crazy! I liked you ideas and discussion about the city of Copenhagen as well as the idea for taxing. Feel free to check out my blog:
http://www.psu.edu/dept/e-education/blogs/geog030/2012/03/citiessuch.html
hello, Alexis! My name is Zhanna. I found your entry interesting. I also chose Copenhagen for my entry. I like your idea of parallel parking which can be turned into a bike lane. I also like that you also consider not only environmental conditions of your city but also its economy.
Here is my link http://www.psu.edu/dept/e-education/blogs/geog030/2012/03/almaty-copenhagen-curitiba.html
Alexis,
I found your blog entry to be very interesting! There are a lot of differences between the state capitol that I live by (Harrisburg, PA) and the state capitol you live by (Honolulu). The amount of people living there was shocking to me...almost 400,000! I have never really considered it before, but between commuters and tourists, I bet the city of Honolulu gets extremely crowded, especially with that large of a population. I also wrote about Copenhagen and the benefits of pushing for bicycles and more walking. Making the transition to these 2 things would cut down on fuel usage and traffic immensely. Since Honolulu has nice weather year-round, it would be a great place to use bicycles and walk around!
Alexis,
I found your blog to be incredibly interesting! I've never been to Hawaii, or anywhere close to it, so I had no idea what to expect. I guess in my mind Honolulu has always been this lush tropical place where no one uses cars or even thinks about using them. I was really surprised to hear that traffic was a problem, until I considered the whole tourist angle. You would think that with great weather year round and the fact that there's such a low obesity rate because everyone's so active, that riding bikes most of the time you need to travel would be a given! It's kind of funny how that's not the case. I also liked how you considered London's option of fixing traffic. I had the opportunity to go to London and the sections that they charge fines to drive in are also some of the most touristy sections of London, so it only seems fitting that maybe that would work in Honolulu too.