SuperBus: The Rescuer of Public Transit?

Can SuperBus come to the rescue of the RTD and other financially struggling public transit systems?

SuperBus--an experimental transit vehicle that could have leaped off the cover of an old Popular Mechanics--is a long, slicked-up truck and trailer rig that recently made its debut in regular service carrying commuters for the Orange County Transit District. It operates a SuperBus route between Orange and Los Angeles counties.

Based on the early evidence, the manufacturer and some transit officials say it holds promise for significantly reducing transit operating costs. And riders give it high marks for comfort.

What’s most unusual about the vehicle is that the driver rides in a truck cab up front, while the passengers are towed behind in a specially designed, 46-foot trailer. Intercoms and closed-circuit television link the two. A vehicle of that size is best suited for long runs. For shorter, purely urban routes, smaller versions are available.

To the uninitiated, this may sound a little too much like a cattle car. But with its high ceiling, brightly upholstered reclining seats, overhead baggage racks and individual reading lights, the inside of the SuperBus looks more like a wide-body airliner than a transit bus.

While it is illegal for people to ride in some trailers, the California Highway Patrol says that SuperBus is within the law because of its heavy-duty coupling and its communications system between passengers and driver.

Officials of the Orange County Transit District, which is operating two of the vehicles, say it is safe and has been built to comply with all state and federal transit equipment standards. Executives of San Jose-based SuperBus Inc. say that reinforced side paneling makes the trailer actually sturdier than a regular bus.

Company officials say they have reduced the threat of jackknifing by paying careful attention to the main cause of such truck accidents--improperly balanced braking systems. And future SuperBuses, according to its Buena Park inventor, Joe Fitzgerald, will employ a high-tech computerized braking system that the CHP and federal transportation safety officials told The Times could all but eliminate jackknifing problems.

Nonetheless, at this point, safety remains a concern with some passengers and transit officials.

“I worry about it,” said Ellie McKirnan, a Santa Ana legal secretary who rides the SuperBus on its 27-mile run. “You hear about trucks jackknifing all the time.”

Because only a few SuperBuses have been built, none have been required to go through the federal Department of Transportation safety tests that most conventional buses are subjected to. That is one reason the Southern California Rapid Transit District’s assistant general manager of transportation, Robert Korach, said he canceled a planned in-service test of the SuperBus two years ago, shortly after he arrived at the RTD.

“This has never been crash-tested,” Korach said. “We’re not saying it’s unsafe. But we couldn’t accept it (without more safety tests).”

Time Will Tell

Time will tell if the new vehicle can get beyond the transit curiosity stage.

But since August, when SuperBus began its three-year tryout running from Fullerton to downtown Los Angeles, it has generally won praise from riders, bus drivers and Orange County Transit District officials.

“It’s much better . . . more comfortable and a smoother ride,” said Lori Erdmann, an Arco employee who takes the SuperBus every day. “Everyone is sad if it doesn’t show up.”

Diaun Burns of Anaheim, another regular rider, said: “I like to sleep. You don’t get the exhaust (fumes) or the engine noise.”

A passenger survey by the Orange County Transit District during a one-week demonstration in 1985 showed that 94% of the riders found it more comfortable than a regular bus.

Drivers Like It

Three Orange County SuperBus drivers interviewed by The Times gave it high marks, although they said that operating it on freeways and maneuvering on crowded downtown streets require special care. “I love it,” said driver Gale Torino. “It’s different from driving a regular bus, and we all like change.”

Orange County transit officials also like what they are seeing. With 58 seats, SuperBus carries more passengers than the standard 47-seat bus, and ridership has increased about 20% on the SuperBus runs.

At about $200,000 per SuperBus, it is priced higher than a regular bus, but on a per-seat basis, it compares favorably.

At the same time, the conventional diesel trucks towing the vehicle use less fuel than a bus and are more dependable; operating costs are running about half the fleet average, Orange County Transit officials say.

Also, commercial truck parts are available at competitive prices, meaning transit districts could avoid having to maintain large inventories of high-priced, specialized bus parts that can only be obtained from the bus manufacturer. That alone could mean a savings of millions of dollars for agencies like the RTD, which maintains a massive bus parts inventory.

“We’re pleased, very pleased,” said Efren V. Medellin, Orange County Transit’s manager of the SuperBus project. The transit district, which is leasing the SuperBuses on a trial basis, is considering purchasing a number of them for express runs and some heavily traveled regular routes.

One major unresolved operational problem, however, is collecting fares.

On the Fullerton-to-Los Angeles run, fares are collected by the driver standing at the trailer door as riders board or depart at the one stop in Fullerton. But on routes with several stops, driver collections would be inefficient.

SuperBus inventor Fitzgerald, a businessman who among other things developed and manufactures plastic wind deflectors for large semi-trailers, said the answer lies in a new generation of high-tech electronic fare-collection systems being developed. “The technology is here to solve the problem,” he said.

Transit officials throughout the country are watching the local experiment closely.

Worth a Look

“It’s a novel approach worth testing,” said John Schiavone, director of technology for the Washington-based American Public Transit Assn. “It makes sense, especially for (freeway) commuters . . . and the beauty of it is you don’t have to keep the whole bus down when the truck is in for maintenance. You just put another tractor on it.”

While RTD’s Korach remains skeptical of the SuperBus concept, one of his subordinates, maintenance director Rich Davis, is attracted by the promised savings.

“I think it’s got some potential to be very cost-effective,” said Davis, who is under pressure from the RTD board to cut operating costs and improve maintenance. “I could be very enthusiastic about it in a park-and-ride mode. If it comes in with significant cost (savings), we have to look at it. . . . We have all got to find a better way to get more for our money.”