Audit Questions Laguna Bus Line’s Value : City Officials Vow to Fight Any Attempt to Eliminate Service

An independent audit has questioned the worth of Laguna Beach’s bus service, but city officials on Wednesday vowed to battle any attempt to eliminate the system.

City Councilman Dan Kenney said: “I can unequivocally say the city would fight any move to do away with our transit system. We’re not going to roll over and play dead on this.”

The audit of Laguna Beach’s bus service was made for the Orange County Transportation Commission, which controls state and federal funds going to local transportation systems. About two-thirds of the budget for the Laguna Beach Municipal Transit Lines comes through the commission.

“Laguna Beach is providing a very costly service for the benefit of a few riders,” the audit says. “The OCTC and the Laguna Beach City Council should consider whether it is appropriate to continue the service.”

Operating costs have increased about 10% during the past 3 years, according to the audit, while the number of passengers has decreased about 5% and fare revenue has declined by about 4%.

The percentage of costs paid by fares decreased from 19.8% to 17.17%, the report says.

Laguna Beach City Manager Kenneth C. Frank on Wednesday said the coastal community is not about to give up its transit system, the only city-owned bus service in Orange County.

“We’ve been in business before the (Transportation) Commission was created, and we’ll be in business long after the . . . commission has gone,” Frank said.

Deborah Christner, an analyst with the commission, said that Laguna Beach has 60 days to file its response to the audit.

The commissioners will formally receive the audit at a meeting on Monday, but Christner said they won’t vote on any of its recommendations for at least 2 months.

However, the commission is scheduled to act on proposed 5-year spending plans for local transit operations, including Laguna’s. Christner said the commissioners may discuss some of the audit’s findings as they go over Laguna’s proposed spending plans.

The audit, carried out by the Arthur Young & Co. office in Costa Mesa, questioned the low amount of money the Laguna Beach system gets from passenger fares. The “Mainline service,” which accounts for about 70% of the routes, only brings in abut 27% of the system’s revenue, the audit says.

In criticizing the revenue, the audit noted: “While operating costs have continued to increase, adult fares have not been raised in several years and seniors and handicapped passengers ride free.”

Kenney, a former mayor of Laguna Beach, said Wednesday that the audit fails to focus on the value of Laguna Beach’s buses to its residents.

“The most important thing about the audit is what it does not say: the impact on local residents if we did not have our transit system,” Kenney said.

Laguna Beach’s 19-year-old municipal transit system is particularly geared to the city’s unusual topography, including hills and coastal inlets, he said.

Traffic, already a severe problem in the community, would worsen without the buses, Kenney said.