3 Bus Firms Charged in Stranding of Thousands at Site of Papal Mass

The Monterey County district attorney Friday filed civil charges of unfair business practices against three California charter bus firms accused of stranding thousands of worshipers at the Laguna Seca Raceway following the Papal Mass last Sept. 17.

About 70,000 people attended the outdoor morning Mass, presided over by Pope John Paul II. Afterward, there was a massive traffic jam and confusion over where to rendezvous with charter buses that had delivered passengers to the raceway from across Northern California.

By nightfall--five hours or more after the Mass ended--thousands of people remained. Many bedded down under blankets, provided by the Red Cross and the Monterey Roman Catholic Diocese, in the center of the track until the following morning, when they were able to find their buses and return home.

Moreover, thousands of other passengers were never picked up and transported to the Mass, including 1,800 in Sacramento, 1,100 in Fresno and 600 in Stockton, according to the state Public Utilities Commission.

Agency Investigates

Afterward, complaints poured into the PUC, which regulates the state’s approximately 2,000 charter bus companies, and the agency opened an investigation.

On Friday, Monterey County Dist. Atty. Michael W. Bartram filed a five-page civil complaint against three charter bus companies, including one from Sacramento that was paid $500,000 by the Monterey Diocese to assemble the bus fleet and coordinate transportation to the Mass. Also named in the suit were two Los Angeles firms that were among the companies the Sacramento carrier subcontracted with to provide buses.

The lawsuit alleges that the companies “committed unfair business practices . . . (and) failed to perform their obligations” by stranding passengers and by subcontracting with other bus companies not licensed by the PUC as required by state law. The civil suit also alleges that the defendants “unlawfully charged the (Monterey) Diocese” by charging on a per-passenger basis, rather than by the busload. The lawsuit seeks damages of at least $100,000, a PUC spokesman said, plus $65,000 to reimburse the Monterey Diocese for feeding and transporting those stranded after the Mass.

‘Opening Shot’

Larry McNeely, a PUC investigator who worked on the case, called Friday’s court action “the opening shot to get the attention of this industry.”

He said that about 20 other charter bus firms acting as subcontractors on the Laguna Seca Mass could also face penalties and that the agency is also looking into complaints against allegedly unlicensed bus firms that carried passengers to the Papal Mass at Candlestick Park in San Francisco the following day.

The three defendants are:

- All-Cal Tours Inc. of Sacramento, now called All-West Tours, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arizona Southern Bus Corp. of Phoenix.

All-West, licensed by the PUC to operate in California since 1976, runs 37 buses in the state and is considered “a big operator,” said a PUC transportation analyst, Santos Flores. He said the firm has had no compliance problems in the past.

Cherry Davis, an assistant to All-West President Keith Lindsay, said the firm had “no comment” on the charges.

The Monterey Diocese, according to PUC investigator McNeely, paid $500,000 to All-Cal to assemble a fleet of 1,200 charter buses to carry people to the Mass.

- Unbroken Circle Stage Lines Inc. of Harbor City.

All-Cal subcontracted with Unbroken Circle to provide buses. Unbroken Circle, however, owns only four buses, according to its owners, Richard and Sharon Zacher, and it turned to other firms for vehicles. Richard Zacher said he provided 57 other buses from Southern California, for which All-Cal paid him a flat rate of $1,900 per bus.

“It was a debacle,” Zacher said of the confusion after the Mass. “We couldn’t pick up people where we left them off.”

But in the end, said his wife, Sharon, “our buses performed their obligations. We got the people there and we brought them back.”

Richard Zacher said All-Cal contacted his firm because many buses from Northern California-based charter carriers were being used to transport firefighters to forest fires in the northern part of the state.

He said he believed that all of the carriers he contacted had PUC licenses to operate in California.

But Monterey County Deputy Dist. Atty. Douglas Matheson said “at least 20” unlicensed buses made the trip. Moreover, he charged, Zacher’s firm was not licensed.

Sharon Zacher said that was not true, and that she had a $600 canceled check as proof that the firm had renewed both its sightseeing and its charter permits with the PUC on Aug. 12.

- Oliver Charters Inc. of Los Angeles.

The owner, Ruby Oliver, said she has been in business for 15 years and owns two buses. As with Unbroken Circle, her firm in turn contracted with other charter companies. She said she used six other firms and didn’t know if they were properly licensed.

Oliver said her company is primarily in the business of carrying groups to Las Vegas and has a license to do so from the Interstate Commerce Commission. But, she said, she did not have a PUC license to do business in California. PUC investigator McNeely maintained that she had to have one to transport passengers to Monterey.

“That was a mess up there,” Oliver recalled of efforts to find her passengers after the Mass. But, she added, “We didn’t strand anyone.”