ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Questions on ‘SuperBus’

Up to this point, the Orange County Transportation Authority has asked far too few questions of a firm it contracted to provide innovative trailer-type buses. It took newspaper reporters to find out that SuperBus Inc. had stopped paying rent on its San Jose office and that civil lawsuits accused some of its officers of fraud in unrelated business deals.

In light of this, the OCTA should re-evaluate its $4-million contract with SuperBus. It also should tighten its rules on non-competitive bidding.

A company’s long-term financial health is especially important when the firm is contracted to supply a product that must last for many years. In the case at hand, the OCTA is buying 10 high-capacity buses that will be in service well over a decade.

Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young, an OCTA board member, is right to ask what would happen if the buses turn out to be lemons and the company that built them is no longer around.

The SuperBus holds 58 passengers--20 more than a standard bus--and is pulled from the front by a motorized cab. In Orange County, two prototypes have proven cost-effective over the last several years on routes between Fullerton and downtown Los Angeles and to Rams games at Anaheim Stadium.

Although the components are readily available, SuperBus is the only vendor to have put together the tractor-trailer bus. For this reason, the contract wasn’t put out to bid. As a result, the firm wasn’t put through the same rigorous paces as those that compete for contracts. That shortcoming in OCTA’s bidding should be closed.

Approval of construction of each of the $388,000 vehicles has been awaiting a bank letter of credit from SuperBus. But the final OK should be held up until the OCTA can fully assess the ability of SuperBus to deliver the buses--and its ability to operate well into the future.