Commuters Say OCTD’s ‘SuperBus’ Is Just the Ticket

The early morning sky was colored pink and gray as Pam Wright, a 12-year veteran of the Orange County Transit District, maneuvered her big-rig into the Park and Ride lot Wednesday morning.

Sleepy passengers stepped onto the unusual-looking bus and settled in for their hourlong ride to work. But the time seems to go a little faster for these commuters, who are traveling aboard “SuperBus.”

The seats are wide and soft, and they recline. There are overhead reading lights, just like in a jetliner. And at each end of the trailer is upper-deck seating for a better view.

“I think this is great!” said Vera Accord a La Habra legal secretary who was reading a magazine. “Before this, I couldn’t handle the traffic. At least now I can read or sleep.”

Orange County has operated two SuperBuses between Fullerton and Los Angeles for three years. Now officials plan to add 10 more, at a cost of $4 million.

The buses generally get good reviews from passengers, maintenance workers and the California Highway Patrol. But recent disclosures about the finances of SuperBus Inc. are resulting in a last-minute review of the deal by county transportation officials.

According to Santa Clara County court records, the firm was sued for failing to pay rent on its suite of offices in San Jose and now operates out of chief executive James F. Elder’s home in Saratoga. And a Times Orange County Edition investigation found that the firm is relying on the Mexican government for money to build the buses at a new plant in Baja California.

But during the hourlong, nonstop trip into downtown Los Angeles, the passengers only wanted to sing the praises of SuperBus.

“I actually consider it a condition of working downtown,” said Roxanne Ford of Anaheim, who works for the W.M. Keck Foundation. “The freeway traffic is more than I can handle.”

SuperBus looks like a big-rig truck from the outside. Instead of being pushed by a noisy engine, passengers are pulled in a low-slung, carpeted trailer by a separate driver’s cab. The primary advantage to passengers is the quieter ride; for the driver, it’s a sense of privacy.

Wright monitors the passengers by way of two closed-circuit television monitors. She and the passengers can communicate via a two-way intercom system.

Driving up in the cab is “nice,” Wright said. “It’s very different from regular buses--this gives us a break from the passengers. Some drivers have a fear of jackknifing one of these things, but I don’t.”

Wright went through a special training course to learn how to maneuver the 55-foot-long tractor-trailer combo. “You’ve got to have better skills,” she said, “because the turns are wider and you have to go much farther into intersections.”

The 7:14 a.m. express was Wright’s second of the day. Earlier, she drove a 5:35 a.m. SuperBus along the same route. A different crew drives the Los Angeles to Fullerton return trip in the afternoon. Service is limited to peak traffic hours, so in between the vehicles sit at a bus yard in Garden Grove.

Wright’s only complaint about SuperBus is that “it gets chilly” in the passenger compartment. Passengers readily agreed. Officials said the vehicles, like most buses, have a history of heating and air-conditioning problems. A new design is being incorporated for the SuperBuses now on order.

Wright said safety has never been a problem, although one of her former colleagues reported that the passenger compartment once fell off its suspension while returning on the Santa Ana Freeway from Los Angeles without any riders.

The California Highway Patrol once found a cracked suspension beam, but it was repaired immediately and the vehicle was never ordered out of service. Since then, the suspension has been beefed up.

“We’ve had a three-year test period with the two prototypes,” said Efren Medellin, superintendent of bus maintenance. “And these vehicles--which have 300,000 miles on them--have performed better than any regular bus. They get better fuel mileage, they carry more people, and the operating costs are quite a bit less.”

SuperBus Inc. has sold two buses to Walt Disney World in Florida and three to a firm that uses them to ferry people to rental car facilities at the airport in Minneapolis. Officials at both locations say they’ve had no problems with the vehicles and add that they’re very popular with passengers.

OCTD’s own surveys also show that riders prefer SuperBus vehicles over regular buses, mostly because they’re roomier and quieter.

During Wednesday’s ride, several passengers napped, while Mary Sturm of Anaheim read a newspaper. “I used to drive in a car pool 110 miles a day to a job in Woodland Hills,” Sturm said. “When my job changed, I decided to look into this. I saw it on the freeway, and I thought it looked interesting, so I called OCTD and asked.”

Sturm added that convenience isn’t her only reason for taking the bus. “I’d like my grandchildren to be able to breathe,” she said, referring to the air pollution caused by single-occupant cars. “It’s important to be part of this.”

At 8:12 a.m., Wright stopped the SuperBus at Main Street to let two passengers off and then continued west on 5th Street. A few minutes later, she reached the end of the line on 6th Street--right on time.