You are absolute correct! BART went from within the city and out to the urban areas.HART started in the urban areas because it was the easiest phase of it.They started HART from the outside in, and they started TOD from the inside out to help all of the trades unions and developers. They figured we'd be in the thick of things, they'd run out of money and say we need more money to chase after bad money. It was all in the plan..."we can't just go halfway, we need to go all the way..just trust us...they knew if they started in the City it would have killed the project immediately! Oahu has so many utility lines, maintenance boxes, and a lot of unknowns below the surface of our streets, it will take at least another $10-14Billion and at least 8-10 years to get to Ala Moana.  Last night it was reported that HART plans on being at Middle Street by 2020, that's less than three years, and they haven't even started to dig form Pearl Harbor to the Airport..another carrot to dangle.