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When I visited Hawaii for the first time I noticed that something was very different compared to similar vacation destinations in for example south-east asia.

When I visited Hawaii for the first time I noticed that something was very different compared to similar vacation destinations in for example south-east asia. It's the same climate. It's the same relaxed atmosphere. It's the same hotels. People come there for the same reasons. People wear the same kind of clothes. But the major difference is that all hotels in Hawaii have huge parking garages. It's a ten-minute drive from Honolulu airport to Waikiki, there's excellent public transportation, hotel shuttles, and taxis, but people still just rent cars, because american tourists rent cars out of habit, not necessity. It's so deeply ingrained, it's gonna take a long while to dispel it.

mcrider 13y ago
I've lived in Honolulu for a couple years, and IMO its a shining example of bad infrastructure. The public transport is quite a bad actually and efforts to build a rail system have been constantly delayed by corruption, NIMBYs, and bureaucracy. People rent cars so they can access the rest of the island because otherwise its impossible. Its not just American tourists either, a huge portion of the tourist population is Japanese or Canadian. But at the same time the locals seem to really love driving. Every household has at least one car and traffic is often rated as bad or worse than LA. For a place that you would think would be ecologically responsible (and a great test bed for transportation technology, as its such a well-isolated location), the car culture hear is so ingrained that I think it would take some major deterrents to get people to stop driving.
PakG1 13y ago
Parking is the primary reason why I'm so excited about self-driving cars. A much more efficient usage of cars and roads when you basically have an automated version of Uber's heatmaps. It would truly provide for everyone's transportation at a very personal and granular level ( the problem with public transportation being that it doesn't take you to exactly where you need to go) while freeing up all that real estate all over the place for better things. Bet you traffic congestion and per capita pollution levels get nicer too as the traffic becomes more efficient.
sliverstorm 13y ago
Well, it's habit for a reason. Not every locale they visit is like Honolulu & Waikiki.
alexeisadeski3 13y ago
Heaven forbid they use these rented cars to stray outside of Honolulu! Also: The reason there are so many cars, roads, and parking lots in Honolulu/Hawaii compared to SE Asia? Because the residents of Hawaii aren't poor - in fact they're quite well off by SE Asian standards.
- eru 13y ago
  For comparison, Singapore is pretty well off, too. And only heroic efforts by the government keep the car population in check. Eg there can only ever be around 1 million cars on the island, and permits are auctioned off. A ten year permit goes for around 100k SGD at the moment.
jeza 13y ago
"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Yellow_Taxi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Yellow_Taxi

mcrider 13y ago

I've lived in Honolulu for a couple years, and IMO its a shining example of bad infrastructure. The public transport is quite a bad actually and efforts to build a rail system have been constantly delayed by corruption, NIMBYs, and bureaucracy. People rent cars so they can access the rest of the island because otherwise its impossible. Its not just American tourists either, a huge portion of the tourist population is Japanese or Canadian. But at the same time the locals seem to really love driving. Every household has at least one car and traffic is often rated as bad or worse than LA. For a place that you would think would be ecologically responsible (and a great test bed for transportation technology, as its such a well-isolated location), the car culture hear is so ingrained that I think it would take some major deterrents to get people to stop driving.

PakG1 13y ago

Parking is the primary reason why I'm so excited about self-driving cars. A much more efficient usage of cars and roads when you basically have an automated version of Uber's heatmaps. It would truly provide for everyone's transportation at a very personal and granular level ( the problem with public transportation being that it doesn't take you to exactly where you need to go) while freeing up all that real estate all over the place for better things. Bet you traffic congestion and per capita pollution levels get nicer too as the traffic becomes more efficient.

sliverstorm 13y ago

Well, it's habit for a reason. Not every locale they visit is like Honolulu & Waikiki.

alexeisadeski3 13y ago

Heaven forbid they use these rented cars to stray outside of Honolulu! Also: The reason there are so many cars, roads, and parking lots in Honolulu/Hawaii compared to SE Asia? Because the residents of Hawaii aren't poor - in fact they're quite well off by SE Asian standards.

eru 13y ago
For comparison, Singapore is pretty well off, too. And only heroic efforts by the government keep the car population in check. Eg there can only ever be around 1 million cars on the island, and permits are auctioned off. A ten year permit goes for around 100k SGD at the moment.

jeza 13y ago

"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Yellow_Taxi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Yellow_Taxi