Faced with a continuing dispute over what type of vehicle O'ahu's planned mass transit system should feature, Mayor Mufi Hannemann called yesterday for the creation of a new panel of experts to decide the matter.

But he insisted that there is no reason to continue discussing a buslike system favored by a few City Council members.

That plan would not be possible under criteria for cost and carrying capacity that the council adopted nearly a year ago when it voted to pursue an elevated "fixed guideway" system, Hannemann said at a city-sponsored transit symposium at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall.

The system will feature trains, and the only real question now is whether they should use steel wheels and tracks, rubber tires on a track or beam, or a cushion of magnetic levitation, he said.

"If we go back and look at technology that we've already discussed and decided against, we'll lose momentum," he said.

Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, who has been leading the push for the buslike system, said she would not object to Hannemann's call for a panel of experts — as long as the council makes the final decision.

"That's fine, we'll listen to all that, but they have to tell us the truth, and the council will decide," she said.

Plans call for the system to run from West Kapolei to Manoa and Waikiki. Kobayashi reiterated her call for a buslike system that runs on a main fixed guideway but features ramps that allow the vehicles to descend and branch out into other parts of the island.

"It's just much more practical for our size of city," she said. "We definitely need mass transit, but it doesn't have to be a rail system on our small Island."

The issue has become a sticking point that must be resolved before an environmental impact statement for the project can be finalized and allow construction to begin.

DUTCH PROPOSAL

Hannemann said a bus system would not fit well with plans for dense "transit-oriented development" along the train route and its stations. Anticipation of such growth, and rapid increases in property values, are major forces pushing the plan forward.

Kobayashi and Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz have been especially interested in a system proposed by a Dutch firm that has been lobbying the council and others: Phileas Advanced Public Transport System. The two say they are also interested in similar systems from competing firms.

The council voted earlier to reserve the right to choose what type of vehicle the project should use. It remains unclear whether that arrangement would clash with state procurement regulations or withstand a legal challenge, however.

Hannemann said he hoped to avoid a fight by compromising to set up the new panel of experts.

"I'm not an expert, and the council are not experts, so let's turn it over to some people who really know what they're talking about," he said.

He said he was still considering how many members the panel should have, and how they should be appointed, but that his administration should choose most of them.

Hannemann said he would soon ask the council to approve a specific panel structure, and that he hoped the expert panel would make a decision by early next year. He hopes to have an environmental plan approved by late 2009, and to break ground the same year.

The mayor yesterday also announced that Honolulu is to receive $15.5 million from the federal government to help pay for the project's preliminary engineering. The Senate had earlier voted to provide $20 million, the House had offered $10 million, and a conference committee agreed to $15.5 million as a compromise, he said.

The city has agreed to pay $86 million for the engineering work and the environmental study. The entire project is expected to cost about $5 billion, and depends largely on federal support that has not yet been approved.

SYMPOSIUM REACTIONS

Yesterday's symposium included 14 transportation and development officials from major cities on the Mainland and in Canada. Keynote speaker Wellington Webb, a former mayor of Denver who oversaw major transportation projects there, said any such project is bound to have naysayers.

"At some point, you have to realize you're not going to get everybody, and in some cases, you don't want to get everybody," he told the crowd of more than 300, mainly developers, contractors and others who support the transit plan.

Webb said the project will require effective leadership, including swift corrections to "distortions" by opponents.

"Don't let anyone limit the vision of what you can be, because you can be great, and it's your time to do so," he said.

City Council chairwoman Barbara Marshall said she was concerned that another presentation predicted that mass transit would create "a new city."

"I'm not sure the residents of Honolulu want a new city," she said. "I'm a little bothered by that terminology."

The city spent about $74,000 on the event, including transportation and lodging for the visiting officials, officials said. About $14,000 of that came from $45 fees paid by attendees.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com.