Hawaii’s Department of Transportation has renamed and relaunched its free ride-matching service: HiRideshare is gone, and KohoGo is the new app. If you are a visitor who just saw “rideshare” in a headline and wondered whether this touches your Uber to the airport, it does not. We read the release and the new site, and for a car-free Waikiki stay like ours, nothing about the trip changes.
What happened
On November 9, 2026, HDOT announced that HiRideshare is now KohoGo. The old HiRideshare site was deactivated on Sunday, November 1, and KohoGo went live for public use at the same time. Maui Now carried the announcement on November 10.
According to HDOT, KohoGo is a free website and app (iOS and Android) for finding carpool, vanpool, and transit options statewide. It offers:
- free peer-to-peer ride matching, as a rider or as a driver
- directions to mass transit, such as TheBus and Skyline
- other options, such as Biki bike share and walking
You plan and record each trip, and each recorded trip earns points toward monthly gift card drawings of up to $50. The KohoGo FAQ adds the mechanics: points are awarded for the first two trips you record each day, 100 points for a one-way trip and 200 for a round trip. The FAQ also says the service is funded by HDOT as a “Transportation Demand Management strategy” — in plain terms, a way to get fewer people driving alone. KohoGo’s legal page says the service is powered by Agile Mile, Inc.
The name, per HDOT: “Koho” means to choose or select in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.
What it changes for a Waikiki stay
Very little, and the main thing worth knowing is a vocabulary one.
On the mainland, “rideshare” usually means Uber or Lyft. Here it means carpooling with other people going your way, mostly a daily commute. KohoGo matches drivers and riders; it does not dispatch a car to your hotel. Your airport ride, your Uber to dinner, and the Waikiki Trolley are untouched by this.
| What KohoGo is | What a visitor might assume | |
|---|---|---|
| ”Rideshare” | Carpool / vanpool matching with other members | Uber or Lyft |
| Transit | Directions to TheBus, Skyline, Biki, walking | A new fare or pass (it is not) |
| Rewards | Points per recorded trip, monthly gift card drawings up to $50 | A discount on rides (none mentioned) |
| Who signs up | HDOT’s release says “Hawaiʻi residents” can create a free account | Anyone |
On that last row: the release speaks to residents, and the FAQ does not say whether visitors can join or enter the drawings. The official FAQ does not address this. We did not create an account to find out, and we would not plan around winning a gift card either way.
The FAQ does say the app is not only for work trips — you can record trips “to the store, Aunty’s house, or even the beach.” That is a nice touch for locals. For visitors, it mostly confirms that the trip planner covers the same TheBus, Biki, and walking routes any phone map already shows.
What we would do — and what we wouldn’t
We would not download it. Not because it is a bad idea; it is a good one, aimed at people who drive to work in Honolulu traffic every weekday. We are not those people on our trips.
Our range is Waikiki on foot plus Ala Moana Center. We do not rent a car, so there is no “drive alone” habit to replace, and we are certainly not going to coordinate a carpool with a stranger to reach a 2 pm happy hour two blocks away. Waikiki on foot, TheBus, the occasional Uber, and the Pink Line trolley to Ala Moana Center cover everything we do, and none of those needs a new account.
If anything, the honest takeaway for a short-term visitor is the reverse: when you see “rideshare” in Hawaii transportation news, read the fine print before assuming it affects your rides.
Who might actually want it:
- Long-stay visitors who commute somewhere — a work assignment, a semester, a medical stay — and would share a ride or vanpool if one existed.
- Anyone already riding TheBus daily who likes tracking trips and wants a shot at a drawing, if the program accepts them (check first, since the release frames sign-up around residents).
For everyone on a beach-and-errands week, keep doing what you were doing.
Before you plan around this
- We checked HDOT’s release, the KohoGo homepage, and the KohoGo FAQ on November 12, 2026. We did not sign up or test the app.
- The release and FAQ do not say whether non-residents may join or enter the gift card drawings. If that matters to you, ask through KohoGo’s site before relying on it.
- Reward rules (100/200 points, first two trips a day, drawings up to $50) are as published on November 12, 2026, and programs like this get adjusted. Re-check the FAQ.
- If you had a HiRideshare account, that site is deactivated as of November 1; KohoGo is where HDOT points people now.
A new name for a commuter tool is a small story. For a Waikiki week without a car, the plan is still the same: walk first, bus or trolley to Ala Moana, and an Uber when the suitcases come out.
