New questions and concerns about how many people will use a transit system, what technology it will use and its eventual costs have come spiraling out of a City Council committee's recommendation to build a "fixed-guideway" mass transit line from Kapolei to Manoa.

The recommendation, which came late Thursday after nearly 15 hours of testimony and deliberation, marks the first time council members have gone on record in favor of the mode of transit and where it will travel, a key point in obtaining federal funding.

But after more than a year of planning and public hearings —and a week before a scheduled third and final vote Friday by the full council — the recommendation also left several community members, developers and elected officials puzzled and disappointed by the details.

The council's Transportation and Planning Committee approved a bill calling for the Kapolei-to-Manoa route, with a possible spur to Waikiki, using either rail or buses. Critics said the choice of a route that runs through the business district of Kapolei ignores the city's preference for a line serving areas with much greater potential for development.

The council also avoided using the term rail, leaving the possibility that buses running on dedicated, elevated lanes similar to a bus rapid transit system might end up being the preferred technology for the transit system.

"We were all trying to figure it out this morning," said Gene Awakuni, chancellor of the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu, who met with other stakeholders in the area yesterday. "We don't understand what's happening behind the scenes."

Awakuni said the new route would bypass Kalaeloa, the state Department of Hawaiian Homelands development, a large planned shopping center and the first phase of the planned UH-West O'ahu campus along North-South Road.

"It would leave an enormous amount of potential unrealized," he said.

MAYOR 'DELIGHTED'

Meanwhile, Mayor Mufi Hannemann said he was "delighted" that the council made a recommendation.

"After looking at this for almost 40 years, I'm pleased that we're just one more vote away from being able to move forward," Hannemann said yesterday. "We're finally ready to move on."

Council members can amend the bill under consideration up until minutes before final vote is taken, and several supporters said they believe there's still a good chance it will change.

"Here we are, seven days away from one of the most important decisions in decades, and we still don't have a clue," said Councilman Charles Djou. "We have a route now, but is that the route we are going to on Friday? Who knows? It's like amateur hour at the Improv."

Although supporters offered no clear explanation for choosing the new alignment, it was clear from the all-day-and-all-night maneuverings before the vote that council members were eager to put their own stamp on the $3.6 billion-to-$4.8 billion system, the largest public works project in the state's history.

"When it's your idea it's always good, but whenever we recommend something, there's always a problem," Council- woman Ann Kobayashi complained to administration officials more than once during the marathon session Thursday.

Several observers said yesterday that the process probably had as much to do with politics as the merits of the various choices.

"When it comes to this much money, everyone wants to have a role ... ," said University of Hawai'i political science associate professor Ira Rohter.

"The unions don't care where it gets built; they just want the jobs. But the landowners have a very big stake in the location," he said. He said it was essential that city officials quickly enact development controls for lands around proposed stations; the City Council is scheduled to take up a bill on that topic on Tuesday.

CONNECTIONS POSSIBLE

Hannemann indicated yesterday that none of the provisions was insurmountable, and several Leeward O'ahu developers said they could live with the changes made by the council.

"We definitely had a preference for the 28-mile high-capacity alignment that came into Kalaeloa. But there are different ways you can connect," said Dan Dinell, executive director of the Hawai'i Community Development Authority, the autonomous state agency that supervises development in Kalaeloa. "Whether it's through rail alignment or busway or other means, we're just keen on connecting Kalaeloa with the surrounding community."

David Rae, vice president of Campbell Estate, said the most important thing was that the new line still goes all the way to West Kapolei.

"That will allow people driving in from West O'ahu to have an easy access to the first station near the freeway," he said. "You could make a good case for either alignment, and there's great potential for growth in both areas."

Still, some people insisted that the choice was a mistake that could cause problems for the city as it pursues federal funding for the project.

"They simply picked the worst route," said Councilmember Gary Okino of his fellow committee members. "It's absolutely unjustified by the ridership and potential for development. It's going to disrupt the plans for major development in the area and trash millions of dollars in planning that's been done already."

Toru Hamayasu, chief engineer for the city's Department of Transportation Services, said the city's considerations in recommending a route through Kalaeloa included increased ridership, development potential, and lower costs of construction in a relatively undeveloped area. He told council members that he would try to recalculate the benefits for the new line, but it could take weeks to complete the analysis.

In addition to picking the alignment for a "fixed guideway" system, the council's transportation committee also told the city it cannot build any more of the project than it can afford without additional debt, and it reserved the right to review the specifications of the project before the city seeks proposals from contractors.

Deputy Corporation Counsel Donna Woo said that might compromise the city's ability to negotiate the best possible deal with whatever contractor is eventually chosen to build the system.

"We're planning to use the procurement process to look at and seek the best technology available," said City Transportation Services Director Mel Kaku.

Although that might include rubber-tire vehicles running on the fixed guideway as envisioned by Kobayashi, city officials said they didn't know of any available bus technology capable of meeting the city's needs.

Hamayasu said elevated busways generally are wider and more expensive to build than rail lines and, unlike rail cars, require a driver on every vehicle.

"That would add significantly to operating costs," he said.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.