HONOLULU -- The state transportation director said the city must answer basic questions about its proposed Bus Rapid Transit project.

He wants to know how many people in cars will be worse off once it's built.

The City Council is poised to vote on whether to approve the first phase of the bus project Wednesday.

The project will have a big affect on commuters in the downtown and Waikiki areas.

The first phase of the project will run for about 5.5 miles, from Iwilei to Kalakaua and Kuhio Avenues in Waikiki.

It will cost $66 million with the city paying $31 million and federal taxpayers picking up the rest.

The idea is to have buses like these coming every two minutes during rush hour and every eight minutes during off-peak times. The city said bus riders would see the results.

"Our goal is to try to get at least a 20 percent reduction in their travel time," City Transportation Director Cheryl Soon said.

What about commuters who stay in their cars? State Transportation Director Brian Minaai is critical of the city's first major study of the project, saying the city must give "full, clear public disclosure of where roadway capacity would be lost or reduced."

The city's transportation chief said the project has cut back drastically on the amount of lanes that will be off-limits to any vehicles but city buses.

"A lot of the debate that has gone on in the few months has resulted in us adjusting the project to say, 'Well, okay, what can we do? Can we do enough to make a widening instead of a lane-taking, and in many instances we've been successful in doing that,'" Soon said.

For example, Soon said on Kalakaua Avenue, the city will share a lane with tour buses and cars turning right, while the city is adding lanes on Kalia Road and Ala Moana Boulevard.

However, the state wants to know the immediate effects to intersections and roads and how many drivers will be worse off right away, not in 25 years, which is what the federal government requires.

"As people perhaps shift to get off the road that we're on, onto another road, will there be impacts, and we're in the process of developing that as we speak," Soon said.

Critics have said the city's rider ship projections are overly optimistic.

The Environmental Impact Statement for the town-portion of the Bus Rapid Transit project was prepared by SSFM Engineers, Inc. The company is being paid $2.1 million for the work.

SSFM has been subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury probing contributions to Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign for mayor two years ago. Family members of the engineering firm's employees gave Harris more than $90,000.

Here is another change the city has made to the bus rapid transit proposal. Originally, it would have taken one lane of traffic away from other drivers all the way through Waikiki on Kalakaua and Kuhio avenues. Now, the city has reduced those "exclusive bus lanes" to less than a quarter mile of road, on a small portion of Kuhio and Kalaimoku Streets in Waikiki.