Laguna Hills : Leisure World Residents Protest Bus Service Cuts

Several residents of Laguna Hills Leisure World, led by the local Gray Panthers’ chapter, have asked that recent reductions in the private bus service in their area be rescinded.

The residents voiced their complaints at a recent meeting of the Golden Rain Foundation, a nonprofit corporation that sets policies for the retirement community and owns the nine-bus fleet. The foundation contracts with Professional Community Management, which operates the 25-passenger buses on routes inside Leisure World and to an adjacent shopping area and nearby medical buildings.

The changes went into effect Jan. 21. Buses that formerly ran from Monday through Friday every 45 minutes from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. now run only until 5 p.m. and the interval between them is now 60 minutes.

Foundation President Leonard Lescher said in an interview that he told those who complained at the meeting last Thursday that the foundation would consider their complaints.

Lescher said the schedule reduction is an attempt to save operating costs and to improve safety. “Due to the increase of traffic in the area, it made it impossible (for bus drivers) to keep schedules safely,” he said.

In a Leisure World newsletter published later in the day of the meeting, the Gray Panthers urged Lescher to restore the old schedule, citing hardships on 4,000 residents who depend on the buses for transportation outside the community.

“Simple tasks (such as) shopping, doctor visits, classes (and) meetings are being made extremely difficult, if not impossible,” wrote resident Minna Liebman, who is president of the Laguna Hills chapter of the Gray Panthers. “We urge other Leisure World groups to likewise voice their opposition to the new schedule.”

Leisure World resident Sergei Dobrovolsky, president of the 2,000-member Leisure World Community Assn., said his group has formed a committee to try to find a solution to the bus schedule problem.