Remember the E bus? Julie Molloy and Laura Warfield sure do, and they're fighting hard to bring it back to life.

The E bus was the short-lived express Downtown-to-Waikiki bus route started by former Mayor Jeremy Harris late last year and halted a short time later later by Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who cited low ridership and the expense of the route in making his decision.

Now Hannemann says he's committed to planning and financing a replacement for the Route E bus service, but it may be several more years before the city can do it.

"Plans to provide patrons of TheBus an express service between downtown Honolulu and Waikiki, which does not affect or duplicate current services, are being made and will be implemented as soon as funds are available," Hannemann told Molloy and Warfield in a letter late last month. "When we begin planning our work for Central Honolulu we will properly plan and fund a replacement for Route E."

That work, however, is not scheduled to begin for several more years. The city does not have the estimated $3.85 million a year to restore Route E anytime sooner, Hannemann said.

Molloy and Warfield, Waikiki residents who regularly used the E bus to commute to work, were far from satisfied with the mayor's response.

"We would prefer a promise that was less vague and more specific—and one that included a concrete implementation date," they said in a letter to Hannemann. "If the city does not have the resources to reinstate the E route, it must be because you (and the City Council) decided not to appropriate adequate funds."

Harris had rushed the E bus service into action just weeks before his administration ended, using 10 newly purchased gas-electric hybrid buses. Within weeks of taking office, Hannemann reassigned the new buses to other routes and soon afterward killed the route, which also served the new University of Hawai'i Medical School facility in Kaka'ako.

Since then Molloy and Warfield have been vigorously lobbying lawmakers, neighborhood boards and others to bring back the E bus service. So far, at least three neighborhood boards have voted to ask the city to reinstate the route and more than 800 people have signed a petition that says the route "greatly enhanced our ability to commute to and from work, acquire goods and services and socialize."

City transit officials say they have modified several routes to fill the E route void: Route B now serves Kalakaua Avenue; Route 65 operates on Ilalo Street in front of the medical school, and Route 6 now operates on Auahi Street past the Ward Centre area.

Molloy and Warfield point out, however, that the altered bus services don't operate as frequently as the E bus, which came every 10 minutes during peak hours. They also deny that the E route had low ridership and duplicated other Waikiki lines.

They promise to continue their pressure until the city brings back the E bus.

"The reinstatement of the E is probably the most economical, efficient and effective thing the city could do to improve public transportation," Molloy said.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.