Abandoning plans for rail mass transit in favor of a bus-like system favored by some City Council members is out of the question, Mayor Mufi Hannemann said yesterday.

"There is no way we are going to change horses in midstream and now explore a busway as an alternative to light rail," he said. "It will not be done. I will not allow that to happen."

Hannemann reacted sharply to a continued push by a few council members to consider alternatives to his plan, including a bus-like system built by a Dutch company.

"To suggest that we do this now, it's too late," he said. "As mayor, I am saying it ain't gonna happen. We're not reassessing this. We're moving forward. There's nothing new on the table."

Not everyone is so sure. Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi said the city should keep its options open, even if that means delaying the project.

"We owe it to the taxpayers to look at whatever fits our city and our pocketbooks," Kobayashi said.

The Dutch firm, Phileas Advanced Public Transport System, gave a film presentation to a council panel Thursday at Kobayashi's invitation. She said similar systems built by other companies should also be reviewed.

"When we're talking about $5 billion of taxpayer money, everything should be considered," Kobayashi said.

City transit planners said Thursday that guidelines approved earlier mean a bus-based system such as Phileas' could be built only if it runs on an elevated fixed guideway, and the vehicles can carry 300 passengers between stations at certain speeds.

Building a system based on smaller vehicles that run on an elevated busway and branch out at street level — as the company's film and an engineer described — would not fit specifications that have guided the city's planning process, officials said.

Such a system could theoretically be eligible for federal construction grants the city is banking on, but only if major planning decisions are abandoned and key documents are revised, chief transit planner Toru Hamayasu said.

There does not appear to be enough council support to take that step, and Hannemann said he is "fully confident" the plan will not move in that direction.

"I don't think the council has put on their thinking caps if they want to go back to square one," Hannemann said. "I want to say emphatically as mayor that we are not even entertaining that thought."

By appearing indecisive, Honolulu risks embarrassing Hawai'i's congressional delegation, which is pushing for $20 million to help pay for preliminary engineering on the system, Hannemann said.

But Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz said he remains interested in the Phileas system, or something similar. He declined to say whether such alternatives should be considered if that means delaying the project.

"We're not at that point yet," Dela Cruz said. "We definitely need to look at all options, and make a decision that's in the best interest of the taxpayers and the community."

Council chairwoman Barbara Marshall said she remains opposed to Hannemann's plan because she is not convinced all possibilities were studied fairly during early planning.

"If we're intent on building mass transit, we need to be building the best possible system that serves the most people the most amount of time," she said. "If that requires going back because (a system like Phileas') even hints at being that kind of system, then we should have considered it."

The council may be able to choose whether a system built within the current guidelines features train tracks and steel wheels, a monorail on rubber tires or another technology.

But it remains unclear whether an ordinance that reserved that choice for the council would survive legal challenges, and a firm decision on the technology appears to be about one year away. Hannemann said he wants to make the call, and he would choose rail.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com.