City Council Chairman Ernie Martin is urging Mayor Peter Carlisle to restore bus service that was cut earlier this year, saying it now appears inevitable the next adminstration will cancel the unpopular bus cuts and reinstate the old routes and schedules.

Both former Gov. Ben Caye­tano and former City Managing Director Kirk Caldwell have promised to reverse the bus cuts, and one of them will be elected as Hono­lulu’s new mayor in the general election Nov. 6.

Carlisle lost his bid for re-election in Saturday’s primary, finishing third.

Because both remaining mayoral candidates pledged to restore bus service, Martin said, "I would hope that this administration realizes that these changes would be made eventually, so I would hope that they would make them sooner rather than later."

Louise Kim McCoy, press secretary for Carlisle, said the city does not intend to reverse the bus cuts that took effect June 3. She said the administration also plans to proceed with previously announced bus route changes, scheduled to take effect Sunday.

"As always, the administration will continue to work with the City Council, but the city’s budgetary situation did not change with the primary election," McCoy said in a written statement. "Unfortunately, in the last week fuel costs have increased and are expected to rise even more, yet TheBus is still able to operate at current fares.

"While the mayoral candidates may promise to pay for everything, Mayor Carlisle was faced with tough choices, a mandate to run government operations as efficiently as possible and to keep fares manageable for all riders."

The City Council today will consider a resolution urging the Carlisle administration to restore TheBus service to what it was before the cuts took effect June 3.

A second resolution would allow the city to increase the taxpayer subsidy of the bus system to cover the budget shortfall that prompted the cuts.

Martin said he expects the Council will approve both resolutions unanimously.

The June 3 revisions caused an "uproar" among unhappy riders, states one of the Council resolutions, and the city received hundreds of complaints from across the island.

Some of the changes affect how often buses travel along their routes, while others involve adjustments of routes that operate on different streets or end at different locations.

City Department of Transportation Services Director Wayne Yoshi­oka has said recent increases in labor and fuel costs are making it more expensive to operate the bus and that the city needed to reconfigure bus routes to make the system more efficient.

The adjustments meant some areas will receive less service and some more, Yoshi­oka said.

The changes were necessary to cut costs in order to avoid a fare increase, he said. Yoshi­oka said the changes should not affect the bus system capacity during peak hours, when buses were generally already full.

The city predicted the changes would save $6 million to $7 million a year by adjusting 21 bus routes. Even with those savings, the city expects fuel costs for bus service will increase by about $3 million in the year ahead.

The first Council resolution urges the Carlisle administration to find money within the existing city budget to restore bus service, and seek additional federal funding to help maintain service in the future.

Martin said the Council learned during testimony that the budget shortfall for the bus system now stands at $3 million, and "from the Council’s perspective, we believe the funds are there to restore these routes," Martin said.

City officials say they are considering complaints from riders and adjusting routes to try to answer the concerns. McCoy said the city made changes in nine of the routes that were changed June 3 in response to feedback.

But Martin said "continuous" complaints are still coming in to Council members, and "there is a point in time where you cannot make any further adjustments."

One vocal critic of the bus changes is Hauula resident KC Connors, who said she waited for an hour on both Saturday and Sunday to catch buses.

Connors blamed the new bus schedule and said the bus changes have caused particular hardship for seniors. Connors said she knows a 72-year-old Kahuku woman who has taken up hitchhiking to get around in the wake of the bus changes.

"Restore the bus immediately," Connors said. "There is so much economic damage right now to both tourism and the local economy, and for people trying to get to work."

McCoy said the city is encouraging bus riders to call 768-8365 during business hours to express their concerns, or to contact the city at TheBusStop@honolulu.org.