A key City Council committee late last night chose a fixed guideway system from East Kapolei to Manoa as the city's preferred alternative for a new mass transit system on O'ahu.

But the Council Transportation and Planning Committee, voting just minutes before midnight after 14 hours of testimony and deliberation, carefully avoided using the term "rail," and left Kalaeloa and several other key planned development areas off the chosen alignment.

Instead, the route approved would start on Kamokila Boulevard in Kapolei town, go down Farrington and Kamehameha Highways, pass through either Salt Lake or the Pearl Harbor/airport area and proceed through urban Honolulu to its end at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's lower campus. It also includes the possibility of a spur line running to Waikiki.

The decision, the first time the council has gone on record as favoring one system and alignment, also left open the possibility that the chosen technology mode for the transit system might still be buses operating on elevated, fixed guideways, a system not unlike the Bus Rapid Transit system killed by the city two years ago after more than $35 million was spent to develop it.

Two members of the committee bitterly complained about the decision to reject the city administration's proposed route that would have included Kalaeloa, the first phase of the UH-West planned campus and an area that would have brought the rail closer to the heavily congested Fort Weaver Road corridor.

"If you wanted to undermine this entire project, you've done a good job tonight," Councilman Gary Okino warned fellow committee members. "You've just put the first nail in the coffin and you can watch as the whole thing gets slowly eroded away," he said.

Okino and Councilman Todd Apo argued that putting the line through Kalaeloa and other emerging populations centers on the 'Ewa plain is crucial to the success of any future transit system and the transit-oriented development that it could spur. Apo pointedly asked supporters of the chosen route to explain why Kalaeloa was left out of the route; no one publicly answered him.

Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, who championed the line that was ultimately adopted, argued that the route would still serve the area adequately. "There are a lot of potential areas all over the island like Mililani and Salt Lake that we aren't going to," she said. "We can always serve those areas later."

All five members of the committee ultimately agreed to pass the transit bill out of committee, setting the stage for a final vote on transit by the full City Council next Friday. In addition to chairman Romy Cachola, Kobayashi and Okino, other members of the committee approving the measure were Barbara Marshall and Rod Tam.

City officials said they want the selection of a locally preferred transit alternative in place by the end of the year, when the state will start collecting a new half-percent excise tax surcharge to pay for it.

The city administration has said it does not expect the surcharge and federal funds to generate enough funds to build an entire system running from Kapolei to Manoa. It had recommended a line from Kapolei to Ala Moana be built at a cost of $3.6 billion and extended to a full length at a cost of $4.8 billion if further funds became available.

The committee action last night also authorized the city to proceed with an environmental impact statement and preliminary engineering, but only on the portion of the route "deemed appropriate and necessary by financial constraints." Supporters said that was designed to ensure that the city builds only what it can afford at this time.

The council also reserved the right to review and approve whatever first phase of the development the city chooses to designate as the "minimum operating segment," and the right to select the technology of the fixed guideway system. City officials argued that could interfere with the city's procurement system and prevent it from getting the best deal from competing companies.

Kobayashi said the technology choice was designed to keep the possibility of buses running on fixed guideways alive as a possible solution to the transit problems. The system would be different from the city's previous proposal because it wouldn't take away any existing traffic lanes for buses, she said.

Kobayashi said she envisioned a system that might have buses guided by magnets running on an elevated lane that could also be used by some cars. "They are starting to do this in Asia, Europe and Australia," she said.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann has said since the start of the alternatives analysis process a year ago that he prefers rail. Toru Hamayasu, the city's chief transit engineer, last night said there are few known fixed-guideway bus systems that could meet the city's needs, and construction and operating costs for an elevated bus system would likely be significantly higher than those for rail.

Committee members sidestepped a growing debate over whether the transit line would best serve the residential population of Salt Lake or the employment centers near the airport and Pearl Harbor by leaving the decision up to the city administration before or during preliminary engineering.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Sen. Neil Abercrombie told Council members that they had a rare opportunity to make the right choice and have it backed up by Congress.

"Only once in a great while do the stars align themselves like this with such an opportunity. Not everybody will be happy with your decision, but it is the first step in a process that's critical to Honolulu's future," he said.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.