As part of an interim plan to address residents' concerns about the loss of a main bus route through 'Aina Haina, the city will send a new circulator bus through the community while continuing to work on a long-term solution that will be presented to community boards.

The interim plan will go into effect Jan. 15.

Details on the new bus route were not immediately available. But city Department of Transportation Services Director Wayne Yoshioka yesterday said the new circulator will address safety and other concerns.

Meanwhile, the city plans to take a new long-term proposal for bus service in East Honolulu to area neighborhood boards in January and February.

The plan has not been released.

"We continue to work with the community," Yoshioka said yesterday, after meeting with 'Aina Haina residents who have been fighting for the restoration of the main bus route.

A city bus route change that went into effect Dec. 2 cuts off 'Aina Haina's East and West Hind Drive loop from Route 1, the main route through East Honolulu from Hawai'i Kai to Kalihi. The old route included a spin through 'Aina Haina on Hind Drive.

The community is now served by a circulator bus that loops between Kahala Mall and 'Aina Haina. Residents said the new bus route that will go into effect next month will address concerns about bus riders having to cross Kalaniana'ole Highway to head to Hawai'i Kai.

'Aina Haina resident and city bus user Phyllis Ching Schwartz said the new circulator bus also addresses concerns about the frequency of buses. The circulator in effect now comes less often than buses on the main route did and cuts off early on holidays and weekends.

Schwartz said the meeting yesterday with the city — the second one 'Aina Haina residents have had with Yoshioka on the issues — was fruitful. "We got some of the things that we were looking for, but we didn't get everything," she said.

City transit officials have said the changes to East Honolulu bus routes were made to provide faster service with fewer stops through the well-used corridor.

But residents charge the new schedule is confusing, inconvenient and dangerous for bus riders who are elderly, disabled or schoolchildren. Art Mori, president of the 'Aina Haina Community Association, said he is confident the community will continue to make progress.

"I'm very glad the city has responded," he said.

Roger Morton, president and general manager of Oahu Transit Services, which manages bus operations for the city, has said the changes to 'Aina Haina service were meant to bring the community in line with other similar places.

In a Nov. 26 letter to the editor in The Advertiser, Morton said Route 1 is the city's largest route, serving about 24,000 passengers daily. Of those, about 160 are from 'Aina Haina.

But residents point out that 'Aina Haina, which is situated around the 1.4-mile Hind Drive loop, is an aging community, full of seniors who depend on the bus for their independence.

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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