Cuts to school bus routes has the Honolulu Department of Transportation Services rethinking its own services cuts.

DTS just announced it’s going to increase its city bus services on four routes to ease any pain felt from State Department of Education cuts to its school bus service.

Here’s a bit from the press release:

Federal rules prohibit the City from providing bus service exclusively for school service, but DTS may increase bus service in areas where students will most likely ride City buses. DTS is targeting areas where ridership is expected to increase due to the DOE’s termination of certain school bus services.

The school buses have also given Mayor Peter Carlisle’s administration a convenient way to address criticism of earlier changes to city bus service.

Both former Gov. Ben Cayetano and former Honolulu Managing Director Kirk Caldwell have turned the bus cuts into campaign issues.

Even though the city is modifying some of it’s routes to cut down on overcrowding that occurred after recent changes to service, DTS will “continue to monitor” the impacted routes.

— Nick Grube