Aloha Stadium’s parking lot has become the temporary home to 1,000 to 1,500 rental vehicles on Oahu that have become idle because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The volume of vehicles at Aloha Stadium provides a snap shot of how many rental vehicles are on the road at any given time.

“It’s what’s on the road versus what they can store,” said Aloha Stadium manager Scott Chan.

Because of their limited parking, representatives from a consortium of five rental car companies contacted stadium officials last week and the first vehicles started moving in on Thursday, Chan said.

“They reached out to see if they have available parking they can use to store cars at a time like this,” Chan said. “They’re paying us. We have administrative rules to enforce.”

The stadium parking lot has 6,000 stalls, Chan said.

He believes it’s the first time in the stadium’s 45-year history that the stadium’s parking lot has been pressed into service to store rental vehicles.

“I don’t think it was ever necessary,” Chan said.

Last week, Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, “incident commander” of Hawaii’s coronavirus response, announced that alternate sites were being considered to distribute key items such as toilet paper, hand sanitizer and other items in high demand to take the load off of retailers and to get products to senior citizens.

Chan said that Aloha Stadium is under consideration to become a site to assure distribution of essential items to “protect the kupuna, as well.”