A semiautonomous Public Transit Authority should be created to manage the city's planned $5 billion mass transit system, City Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz said.

He is asking that voters be allowed to decide the matter through a charter amendment in the 2008 general election.

Such an agency would be overseen by a 13-member board of directors, including five appointed by the council and five chosen by the mayor. The remaining three would be selected by the governor, House speaker and Senate president, respectively.

Dela Cruz said he had not yet discussed the proposal with Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who has led the current push for mass transit on O'ahu.

"I've introduced this to see if we can hopefully start a meaningful discussion as we move forward," Dela Cruz said.

The goal is to share responsibilities, not just dilute the mayor's authority, he said.

"No one really has a lock on it," Dela Cruz said of the proposed board. "It still allows the mayor an extreme amount of input."

Hannemann and a majority of council members would have to agree to present the amendment to voters for it to appear on the 2008 ballot.