On Monday, a caravan of nine intellectually and developmentally disabled clients, accompanied by several professional staff instructors, set out as they often do from Arc in Hawaii’s Diamond Head Road offices to catch TheBus several blocks away, at Kahala Avenue.

When the Koko Head-bound Route 14 bus appeared, the group let out cheers. It was the first time Arc clients and staff had seen Route 14 in about eight months, after controversial cost-saving service cuts trimmed that route in August.

Last weekend, local bus riders saw the first of several city-approved reversals to those service cuts go into effect. Route 14 had its original Diamond Head route restored during off-peak hours. Route C, which runs from Makaha to Kapolei to Ala Moana Center, was also slated to see its weekend and holiday service restored to every 30 minutes. Several more routes, including Routes 5, 55 and 13, are scheduled for restored service in May and August.

Mayor Kirk Caldwell, flanked by city transportation officials, announced the reversals late last month after he and Honolulu City Council members heard hundreds of complaints from bus riders facing longer waits to catch overcrowded buses.

Hundreds of riders had signed grass-roots petitions last year demanding that the city find ways to save costs. Nonetheless, changes to 21 routes started rolling out in June, aimed at saving up to $7 million a year. The cuts hurt many workers, students, elderly and disabled passengers.

Arc relied on Route 14 for its cleanup trips to Wai­alae Beach Park, shopping trips to Safeway on Kapahulu Avenue, and other community activities for about 52 clients at its Diamond Head Road offices, according to its director of development, Becky Tyk­sin­ski.

After Route 14’s route was changed, Arc staff and clients did their best using Route 22, which picked them up at the same stop on Kahala. However, the bus was often so crowded it would pass by and leave them standing at the stop, said Jessica Palakiko, an Arc instructor. The nonprofit group had to scale back on its outings from about three to one a week and trim the number of clients it could bring out.

On Monday, the group had the bus on the newly restored Route 14 almost entirely to itself for a trip to Kahala Mall for several hours of lunch and shopping. The trips, Tyksinski said, help their clients learn to be more self-sufficient.

Having a wide-open bus helped, instructor’s assistants said, because they had two wheelchair-bound clients with them.

"It’s awesome," instructor assistant Melissa Tabanera said Monday.

City transportation officials say they’ll see how these reversals and the ones planned for May and August go before deciding whether any more changes need to be made.