HONOLULU -- Mayor Mufi Hannemann's plans to establish a ferry system for Oahu commuters suffered another major setback, KITV has learned.

The city is going back to the drawing board again after potential ferry companies rejected its first plan. Not one company bid on the city's proposal.

As the state pilot project showed seven years ago, designing a practical ferry system is not easy. The city has now learned that lesson. Its concept of a Barbers' Point to downtown system linked to city buses ended up being so impractical no company was willing to bid on it.

"Obviously, I wish that someone had come forward," Hannemann said.

City bid documents showed that potential bidders complained the number of round trips the city wanted would have required them to bring in as many as three ferries. That's apparently too big of an investment for just a one-year contract.

The city's demand for a summertime start didn't leave enough time to find and refurbish the vessels and bypassing the Navy pier at Iroquois Point would have meant a longer trip with fewer potential customers.

"I am not ready to call it quits yet. I still believe it's a very salient idea," the mayor said.

The mayor has ordered his planners to redo the project in hopes of attracting a bidder. The challenge is to devise something that is both attractive to commuters and profitable for the vessel owners.