Two Bus Firms Face Court on Tourist Route : Funbus Claims Exclusive Rights to Hotel Line

Two competing, Anaheim-based bus companies will go to court next month to determine whether both should be allowed to operate between the Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland tourist areas.

Funbus Systems, Inc., filed a lawsuit Friday against Pacific Coast Sightseeing Tours and Charters, claiming it has created illegal competition for Funbus’s Anaheim/Buena Park service.

Funbus said it has lost up to $1,000 a day because of the Pacific Coast competition. Pacific Coast began its Anaheim/Buena Park service last December. Funbus is suing for $100,000 in general damages and $500,000 in punitive damages.

Funbus claims it was given exclusive rights to that route in 1981 by the California Public Utilities Commission. Two months ago the state commission issued a temporary restraining order to keep Pacific Coast off the Anaheim/Buena Park route. A final decision by the commission is pending.

Funbus Systems claims Pacific Coast has failed to abide by the commission’s temporary restraining order.

Hearing Set

A Nov. 13 hearing has been set in Orange County Superior Court in which Funbus will seek a court order to stop Pacific Coast’s Anaheim/Buena Park operation until the state commission’s final decision.

Gerald O’Connell, owner of Pacific Coast, said Friday he was surprised by the lawsuit because both sides knew the Public Utilities Commission was about to issue a final decision.

O’Connell said: “We do not believe we have done anything wrong. And we’re confident we will win before the Public Utilities Commission.”

Funbus Systems, O’Connell said, does have exclusive rights to the Anaheim/Buena Park trips, but only as a passenger route with specific stops.

“We are not a stage route; we operate a round-trip sight-seeing service,” O’Connell said.

Both bus companies travel primarily between nine Anaheim hotels and Knott’s Berry Farm.