On the path toward obtaining a mass-transit system, the public is getting railroaded. Insider deals, special favors and political payoffs define Honolulu's recent rail decisions.

Over my opposition, the city has committed itself to fixed guideway. Now the public is on track to get a financially questionable project that is fatally flawed because it excludes both the University of Hawai'i and the airport from its initial route. Even if you are a proponent of rail, you cannot possibly be happy with the way the city has handled the mass transit decision-making process.

The Honolulu City Council suddenly dropped the airport and Pearl Harbor from the proposed rail route in favor of a Salt Lake Boulevard route. Eliminating Hawai'i's largest job centers and the airport, where all of the tourists who drive Hawai'i's economy pass through, is nonsensical. The administration of Mayor Mufi Hannemann repeatedly testified and produced numbers that showed altering the route away from the airport could not be justified.

Further, just last year, the mayor flew to Washington, D.C., to lobby against the base closure commission's consideration of shutting down the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and pledge that the city would do what it could to support the shipyard. Those numbers that the administration so confidently pronounced dictating the airport route have now magically changed, and that commitment to Pearl Harbor now rings hollow.

The reason for this strange turn of events is nothing more than petty politics.

Hannemann cut a deal with Councilman Romy Cachola the day before the initial vote to drop the airport in exchange for Cachola's support. Political expedience magically changed the administration's position, and now the public will get a less- than-ideal route on an already questionable system.

Back-room deals and engineering numbers that change depending on shifting political winds form the unfortunate reality of Honolulu's mass-transit project. Several months ago, I introduced a bill to delay the implementation of the general excise tax increase. The Hannemann administration testified that if my bill were merely introduced at first reading, it would immediately jeopardize federal funding. Although my bill was not adopted, it did — inconveniently for the administration — pass first reading.

Today, all of the calamity statements by the administration of what mere discussion of my tax delay bill would do have amazingly disappeared. The administration's statements apparently had very little to do with reality and everything to do with petty politics.

If you still aren't concerned about how the city is proceeding with a fixed-guideway system, check the frequent-flier miles of city officials.

Over the past couple of years, the mayor and various city officials have not only traveled to Las Vegas and San Francisco and Seattle and Chicago and Denver and San Diego and Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C., and Portland, Ore., but also to Canada, Japan and the Philippines to "inspect" various rail systems around the world. In the near future, Paris and the Netherlands will get a visit by Honolulu officials. Mass-transit corporations that will likely bid on Honolulu's fixed guideway system paid for many of these trips. If a special interest group couldn't pick up the tab for all of this travel, you the taxpayer did.

The city administration optimistically hopes building the full 30-mile fixed guideway system will face a financial deficit of "only" $1.6 billion. The city, however, also faces a major credibility deficit. Whenever the city produces statements that dictate one rail system or another, you should understand that those numbers are only as reliable as the political deal of the day.

I have long contended that the train ticket for rail is too expensive. This overpriced train ticket has now become an utter train wreck by excluding UH and the airport because of political deal- making. Honolulu's mass-transit system is the largest public works project in the history of Hawai'i, financed by the largest tax increase our state has ever seen. Implementation of any fixed-guideway system in Honolulu should be guided by the best interest of the public, not deals, favors or payoffs.

Councilman Charles K. Djou is chairman of the council's Zoning Committee. He wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.