Honolulu residents will get their first chance to comment on the city's plans for a new mass transit system at two public meetings in December, officials said.

The meetings, set for Dec. 13 at Blaisdell Center and Dec. 14 at Kapolei Middle School, are a required part of a $9.8 million planning process that is intended to identify the technology, design and route of a future mass transit system that likely will stretch from Kapolei to Manoa.

"This will be when the public can learn what we are thinking about and help determine what we're going to study further," said Toru Hamayasu, chief planner for the city's Transportation Services Department.

The initial study includes everything from new toll roads to more bus service to a fixed-guideway system, such as a monorail, to provide an alternative means of transportation between Leeward O'ahu and urban Honolulu. By late November, city officials plan to narrow the scope and announce preliminary findings through newspaper notices, a telephone hot line, a Web site and a newsletter mailing to more than 15,000 O'ahu households.

"We're going through the preliminary work of engineering and financial analysis to see what options make the most sense to go forward with," Hamayasu said. "Right now, we are almost at the point where we're ready to ask the public's input on what we've done so far and what we should do next."

The work is part of an official alternatives analysis and draft environmental impact statement being developed by a private consultant for what's officially known as the High Capacity Transit Corridor Project to increase transit service between Honolulu and Leeward O'ahu.

Among the factors being considered are project costs, environmental impacts and how much transit time can be saved.

Officials plan to have the alternatives analysis completed by Nov. 1, 2006.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.