TheBus riders of the Liliha-Waikiki-University route are once again seeing the arrival of buses every 15 minutes under a restoration of service that took effect Sunday.

The frequency of Route 13 buses had been reduced to once every 20 minutes under a budget-cutting measure instituted by former Mayor Peter Carlisle in 2012.

Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Carlisle’s successor, vowed to restore lost service if he was elected. Route 13 is the eighth route to be restored. About 1,000 more passengers can be accommodated by the $750,000 restoration, Caldwell said at a news conference on Monday.

He called it “a lot more service for a lot more people in a heavily traveled area.”

Caldwell has taken some heat, notably from some members of the City Council, for not restoring all the services Carlisle cut.

Mike Formby, the city’s transportation services director, said $4.6 million, or more than half of the $7 million in bus service cuts made by Carlisle, has been restored since March. Other cuts by the Carlisle administration were either “less priority” or “good cuts,” he said.

The administration will continue to look at “ways to tweak the system” to make it more efficient and useful, the mayor said, “subject to finding the revenue to do this.” One possibility may be more bus advertising, he said.

Meanwhile, Caldwell said he does not expect bus service to be cut as a result of a recently announced $26 million shortfall for fiscal year 2013.

“One of the major functions of any city is to make sure that our public transportation is doing well,” he said. “We’ll look for ways to save money in other areas.”