INIT/HART Launch HOLO e-Fare Pilot in Honolulu

December, 2018  The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) and the City and County of Honolulu Department of Transportation Services (DTS) launched the HOLO Pilot, an account-based electronic fare system from INIT, on December 1, 2018.  The HOLO card will be used by passengers on the City’s TheBus system and in the near future, on the City’s rail transit system. The Pilot will run approximately three months and will be followed by a full roll out for TheBus. Roll out on rail is anticipated to start December 2020. 

The modern fare collection system designed and implemented by INIT delivers real-time fare processing and convenient account management for Oahu passengers, providing the ability for patrons to load passes or add value via their mobile device in route to board a bus, from the privacy of their own homes, or by visiting local retail outlets or their regional satellite city hall. 

Whitney Birch, HART Fare Collection Manager, said “The HOLO system offers benefits to customers that make public transit more accessible and easier to use for everyone.” 

The HOLO project kicked off in 2016 with system design, leading to the 2018 outfitting of the Oahu Transit Services’ five-hundred and fifty vehicle bus fleet (TheBus) with INIT proximity card readers, driver displays, and routers to facilitate the validation of HOLO smart cards and electronic tickets. 

The HOLO card will also be accepted as payment on the Honolulu rail system, currently scheduled to open its first stations in 2020. INIT is supplying more than one-hundred Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs) and nearly one-hundred and forty fare gates for the rail system.   The City is also evaluating the option to incorporate Biki, Honolulu’s new bikeshare system, with the HOLO card for a truly intermodal electronic fare system. 

INIT’s open architecture design enabled the delivery of several third-party system integrations to the HOLO system using open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Taking this approach allows the Agencies to link external partners to manage their devices and CAD/AVL information. 

HOLO is a Hawaiian term meaning “to ride.” With the launch of this new system, passengers can experience smooth travel throughout the island of Oahu using HOLO. 

About HART

The Honolulu Rail Transit Project is a 20-mile elevated rail line with 21 stations. The project will connect West Oahu with downtown Honolulu and Ala Moana Center via Honolulu International Airport. It will take 42 minutes to travel the entire route. The system features modern electric steel-wheel trains, each able to carry hundreds of passengers.