KAPOLEI — Mayor Mufi Hannemann last night urged West O'ahu residents to rally around the city's $3.7 billion transit project, saying it would benefit them as much, if not more, than residents in other parts of the island.

"I really believe a majority of the people who live on this side of the island want this," Hannemann said to a crowd at the Kapolei Middle School cafeteria to hear more about the High-Capacity Transit Corridor project.

About 50 West O'ahu residents showed up for the meeting, the first of four that city officials will run through next week. The meetings, which run from 6:30 p.m. nightly, will next be held at Alvah Scott Elementary School in 'Aiea Thursday, Waipahu Elementary School Monday and Farrington High School on March 18.

A technology advisory panel selected steel-wheel-on-steel-rail technology over several other choices on Feb. 22. The City Council will have a public hearing on March 19 before making a final decision, expected on April 16.

Last night, Hannemann listed a series of highway and other infrastructure projects built in other parts of the island and said it was time for West O'ahu to get its fair share of improvements. "You deserve a better of quality of life," he said.

Opponents of rail, he said, primarily live outside of West O'ahu. "They don't know what it's like to experience gridlock on this side of the island seven days a week," Hannemann said.

Another reason the East Kapolei-Waipahu leg was picked to be the first portion built, he said, was because "if we tried to build in the Downtown urban corridor (first), we would never get started. It would be in the courts every other week fighting with landowners, what have you, those who don't want to see rail occur or those who want to charge the city mucho bucks for a right-of-way."

On the west side, he said, "we have willing and supportive landowners and developers and I figure, for the most part, a very strong and supportive constituent base that wants us to do this. And so my feeling is this: Build it out on the west side ... and keep pushing it out."

A majority of the audience appeared supportive of a transit system, although many had tough questions.

'Ewa Beach resident Robyn Camacho has already made up her mind that she will ride the city's fixed-guideway transit project. "I don't know much about it," Camacho said. But as a daily bus rider who commutes daily to and from her job Downtown, riding the new system is a no-brainer. "Yeah, we gotta pay for it!" she said.

Boothai Chantavy, 57, of Makakilo, said he would like to see the transit system help alleviate traffic but is not yet entirely convinced. "It would be a shame if we had to spend so much money and not have it have a positive impact on the traffic in the community," he said.

Cathy Finney, 53, said she showed up to learn more about the technology and the routing. "If it avoids traffic jams, I'll take it," Finney said. The Kapolei resident also wants to makes sure city officials spend taxpayer money wisely. "I think people have to start being accountable for what they do," she said.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.