Hawaii in particular seems like an insane place to build a car-centric society. It’s not like anyone is going to go on a long road trip, or needs to commute from point to point over a huge geographic area (as one comparison, the island of Oahu has <1/10 the area of the SF Bay Area). I’m guessing the typical Honolulu commute is only a few miles.
Some combination of boats, mass transit, bikes, walking, so-called neighborhood electric vehicles, and the occasional jeep seems like it would be much more practical. The money and space spent on parking, wide streets, and car ownership would go quite a long way if diverted to transit.
Downtown real estate in Hawaii is about as expensive as in San Francisco. Most working-class people live in bedroom suburbs like Hawaii Kai, Mililani, or Makakilo, 12-20 miles away. People who live closer to town are largely on the mountain ridges, making it geographically close, but logistically impossible to bike.
And a huge number of people also cross the mountains from Kaneohe, Kailua or Waimanalo, using either Likelike or Pali Hwy, both of which have a staggering amount of elevation change.
Some combination of boats, mass transit, bikes, walking, so-called neighborhood electric vehicles, and the occasional jeep seems like it would be much more practical. The money and space spent on parking, wide streets, and car ownership would go quite a long way if diverted to transit.