Carlos A. Munilla, OCTD Bus Driver : Bus Driver Likes People, Pets, Punctuality

Driving a bus isn’t Carlos Alberto Munilla’s first love.

A native of Buenos Aires, Munilla, 59, would rather spend his time caring for the canaries, parakeets, turtles, fish and a cockatiel that share his Anaheim townhouse. But that doesn’t mean he cares for his passengers less than he cares for his pets.

“I take my job very seriously,” Munilla said. “That’s the way my parents raised me.”

He takes it seriously enough that he hasn’t missed a day for eight out of the 11 1/2 years he has spent carefully maneuvering his coach through the streets of Orange County. In fact, he was not even one minute late to work in those years.

The Orange County Transit District gives its drivers 59 seconds after their scheduled starting time before they are counted absent for the day. The fact that Munilla is never a “miss out”--OCTD’s term for a driver who fails to report on time for duty--is testimony to the dedication Munilla says he has for his job.

Though dedicated, driving a bus wasn’t quite what Munilla had in mind when he left Argentina 26 years ago and ventured north to America. He said he wanted to see something different in the world, get acquainted with new people and experience a different culture.

He landed in Hollywood and opened a pet shop that catered to celebrities, but Munilla was more interested in being close to his first and constant love--animals. In Argentina, he had studied to be a veterinarian but left for America before completing the required four years of veterinary school.

Eventually, perhaps after retirement, Munilla hopes to buy a plot of land somewhere, maybe five acres or so, to breed dogs, rabbits, chickens and other animals.

“That would be my Lotto,” he said.

Meanwhile, he makes friends on his OCTD routes. His current assignment is Beach Boulevard, through Huntington Beach.

“In order to do this job, you have to have two things--you have to enjoy driving and you have to like people, and I like people,” he said. “All my passengers are friends. Because I speak Spanish, I’m able to help a lot of people. I’ve had so many people say, ‘I’m so glad you speak Spanish.’ ”

Because Munilla works during rush hours, about half of his passengers are regulars going to and from work, he said.

“They know you, they like you or they don’t like you, but they are the ones that make you be on time,” he said. “They don’t want to be late or miss a connection, and I’d be the same way.”

Because of his promptness, safety and courtesy, Munilla was named “Driver of the Month” for May, 1985, and August, 1989. Each time he receives an award, he gets a pin, sometimes a $100 bonus. But it’s the recognition for a job well done that he truly cherishes.

“You are good because you want to be good, or you are a lousy driver because you want to be. But that all depends on how you see it. Are you going to do something for better money? You have to do something well because you do something well, not because they’re going to give you five more dollars. In that way, you’re going to be bought.”