Waikiki Trolley — Local services in Honolulu

I am writing a review on our adventures on the "Waikiki Trolley," which we have used extensively during our visits to the island of Oahu.

The trolleys here are replicas of the ones in San Francisco, only these have wheels!  I can tell you, that as a vacationer, the trolley is an economical form of transportation (next to "The Bus") and the open air on a warm day is invigorating.

With that being said, not all trolleys go to the same place.  I have seen a lot of trolleys going the same way of our intended destination that are empty, but will not pick you up...

I used to think that those are the "chartered ones," "going out of service," "the driver has to pee," or "whatever the case maybe."

Hopping on some of these trolleys when they are semi full is another challenge all together, especially during the years that our children were small.  I guess I'm just spoiled and like to complain.

The "Waikiki Trolley" travels to most of the islands major attractions and shopping malls of Oahu.  My only suggestion, plan ahead, know your trolley "colors," and have a great day!

Here's a little history of this famous tourist attraction.

The island trolley service started on April 18, 1986, with just two trolley cars.  They were the first trolleys to hit Oahu streets since the electric trolleys of the early 1900′s.

Today, Waikiki Trolley operates a fleet of over 50 trolleys.  The trolleys are classic street reproductions of "San Francisco cable cars" with authentic brass and wood trimmings.

The fleet also includes double-decker buses used exclusively for the Red and Blue lines.

The first stop locations included Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, Honolulu Zoo, Waikiki Aquarium, and my favorite Ala Moana Center.

In 1988, Waikiki Trolley expanded its service to downtown Honolulu and "Old Town Honolulu Tour," which is the original routing for the current "Honolulu City Tour (Red Line)".

The trolley takes you to many of the islands historical sites, King Kamehameha Statue and `Iolani Palace.

The trolley drivers are very knowledgeable and can also tell you little secrets that are even unknown to many residents.

The current Waikiki Trolley covers as far west as Chinatown, and as far east as Kahala Mall, making it one of the most elaborate routes for Honolulu and its surrounding areas.

Over the past 24 years, Waikiki Trolleys have carried over eight million passengers, and have more than enough mileage to drive over 8 times around the Earth.

Here is my tip to inbound travelers:

Multi-day trolley passes; allow unlimited boarding privileges on all four lines for either 4 days or 7 days.

Single-day passes; allow unlimited boarding on all four lines.  Separate prices are charged for adults, seniors, Kama'aina (local residents) and children.

Boarding passes can be purchased at most hotel concierge or activity...

I boarded the Pink Line Trolley in front of the Aston Waikiki hotel at 1:55pm on May 10, 2016. All I wanted to do was to take a ride on the trolley and return to the hotel. My first time to Oahu and I wanted to see a little bit of the area around my hotel. Upon walking onto the trolley I was greeted by the most unfriendly, arrogant, down right belligerent trolley driver that someone could come in contact with. I politely told him that I just wanted to take a ride and return to the hotel. He responded with a very loud voice telling me where the final destination of the trolley was. This made no sense to me. I stated again that I just wanted to take a ride on the trolley and return to the hotel. His response was to just stare at me and say nothing. I then politely asked how much the ride was. His response was to bang his hand on the sign in front of him and say in a loud voice, "the sign says it's $2". I deposited the $2 and sat down. After 3 or 4 stops by the trolley I realized that I wasn't totally sure that the trolley returned to my hotel, so I got off and walked the distance back to my hotel. This guy is definitely in the wrong line of work. So my message to you....watch out for the "Pink Line Trolley driver from Hell". I'm not concerned at all for my family or myself because I will never step foot on the Pink Line...

If you are new to Waikiki DO NOT take this trolley. The people running the main desk were completely unhelpful, offering no explanation for their strange system of paper and laminated passes and often making things more confusing. They did not answer any questions we asked about which line we needed and timing, instead they explained the system only after we had been forced to figure it out ourselves.

The trolleys are also incredibly unreliable, starting late and running late all day long. We had bought these passes to avoid using too many Lyfts or renting a car - we ended up having to do both just to make it to our desired destinations in a reasonable time.

They sold us Iolani Palace tour passes without explaining that it was for the audio tour which didn't start until 10:30 (we bought the passes at 8:30) and we had to wait around the palace for a full hour due to this lack or explanation. They also failed to explain that the palace had been closed due to a bee infestation - causing us quite a bit of worry when the trolley driver told us this AFTER we were on our way. Thankfully we were able to Google the status of the palace and discover that it had luckily reopened that day.

In summary: The trolley is late and the people unhelpful. We used it for 2 of the 7 days we paid for. An absolute...