Bus Service Continues Despite OCTD’s Recall

Bus service was normal Friday, although 67 buses were sidelined because of cracks found in the vehicles’ rear suspension, transit officials said.

“All scheduled service was sent out and (is) operational” said Joanne Curran, spokeswoman for the Orange County Transit District. “The heaviest demand is in the morning, and we were OK.”

Curran cautioned, however, that a lengthy repair period could “drain” the district’s fleet of buses as warmer weather approaches and buses break down more frequently and need repairs. Officials had no estimate Friday of how long repairs will take.

“We’re almost down to the bare bones,” Curran said. Dial-A-Ride vans have been picking up the handicapped passengers who normally use buses that have hydraulic wheelchair lifts, Curran said. The vans have the lifts.

Gregory Winterbottom, executive director of the Consolidated Transportation Services Agency, which serves the handicapped and the frail elderly, said there was no significant increase in service requests Friday.

The transit district announced Thursday that it was taking the 67 Gillig Phantom buses out of service after the rear suspension on two buses failed during the past 3 weeks, dropping the passenger coaches onto the rear axles. No one was injured.

Curran said that the first incident occurred about 12:45 p.m. on April 24 at the corner of Golden West Street and Warner Avenue in Huntington Beach.

“The driver noticed the rear swaying a little bit and heard a loud bang,” Curran said. “As she was driving the bus over the curb to stop, a Huntington Beach police officer also noticed the bus swaying. Another bus was sent out to get the passengers, and the damaged bus was towed away.”

The second incident, Curran added, occurred about 4:20 p.m. on April 28 at the intersection of Placentia and Orangethorpe in Placentia avenues.

“The operator of that bus noticed that the bus was leaning to the left, so he just pulled over and notified us by radio. The passengers got on another bus that was sent out there.”

The second damaged bus also had to be towed away, Curran said.

Brian Macleod, vice president of marketing for the Hayward-based Gillig Corp., acknowledged Friday that OCTD’s purchase and warranty agreement with Gillig requires Gillig to pay the transit district $100 a day for each bus that is out of service, in addition to making any necessary repairs.

But Macleod said it is too soon to pinpoint the problem or determine how long it will take to fix it. He did not know how many buses with the same suspension used in the 67 OCTD buses have been sold nationwide. The district purchased the buses less than a year ago for about $10 million.

“We’ve sent our vice president for engineering, Richard Cooper, to Orange County to assess the situation. We don’t have any facts yet,” Macleod said. “We know Orange County is concerned and we’re trying to respond appropriately.”

OCTD officials said Friday that if the fleet shrinks further, a contingency plan will be implemented in which some routes that have buses running at 10-minute intervals would be cut to once every 15 or 20 minutes. Also, supplemental service in which extra buses are added to regular routes during heavy use periods would also be cut or eliminated.