The next step in the city's mass transit project kicked off today -- a series of public meetings being held as the environmental study phase gets underway.

The public gets a chance to weigh in during the "scoping" phase of the Environmental Impact Statement drafting. But critics of the project say it's on the wrong track.

A handful of agencies gathered to kick off the next study phase for mass transit Wednesday morning. Far more gathered outside Honolulu Hale to protest.

"The city itself forecasted traffic congestion in 2030 with rail will be far worse than it is today," said rail opponent Cliff Slater. “We have to say, what kind of an investment is that?"

Protesters contend a toll-road approach called managed lanes or “HOT lanes” should continue to be studied. The Honolulu City Council voted to proceed with a fixed-guideway instead that would accommodate wither rail or rubber-tired transit.

"It's too late,” Mayor Mufi Hannemann said of the protests. “The train has left the station. This thing about not being fair in assessing managed lanes is hogwash."

"The technical analysis -- the Alternatives Analysis -- showed that fixed guideway was the best technical solution," said Melvin Kaku, city transportation director. “We considered things like the number of people that could be moved within the timeframe for the dollar amount."

Protesters contend the city inflated the cost and suppressed the effectiveness of HOT lanes in the Alternatives Analysis that guided the council vote.

“The city says it is a transparent process,” Slater said. “and we say, yes, it is transparent because you can see right through all their shenanigans. The fact of the matter is it's a rigged process"

Supporters of fixed guideway see it differently.

"I think they've done a good job in looking at all the options and coming up with the evaluation and coming up with this decision," said Sam Callejo, vice president of administration at the University of Hawaii, who was attending the morning agency meeting.

But even among supporters there's still a call to change the route -- like taking it all the way to the University of Hawaii's Manoa campus.

"Right now we're in spring break, and everybody knows how great the traffic is,” Callejo said. “Now, if it went all the way to the campus, we might have this all the time."

The first public scoping meeting took place tonight at Kapolei Hale.

· Another takes place 5-8 p.m. Thursday, March 29, at McKinley High School’s cafeteria;

· A third will be 6-9 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, at Salt Lake Elementary.

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