LAGUNA BEACH : Electric Bus to Start Route in 6 Weeks

The city will purchase the county’s first electric bus, a battery-powered, emission-free vehicle which would be available to transport residents in about six weeks.

“The idea of electric vehicles is on the cutting edge,” said Councilwoman Lida Lenney, who joined her colleagues in a 4-0 vote last week to buy the $160,000 bus. “I see it as a prototype or demonstration of what we can do with a transportation vehicle that will make it possible to live in a world where we can breathe the air.”

The bus, which will seat 19 passengers, will replace an old open-air van, said Terry Brandt, municipal services director.

Lenney said she saw a demonstration of an electric bus during an environmental quality meeting in Northern California. At the meeting, officials from Santa Barbara, which Brandt said has several electric buses, gave a report on the vehicles.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District is offering $52,000 toward the purchase of the Laguna Beach bus, and Southern California Edison will pitch in $10,000, according to a city staff report.

Laguna Beach is the only city in Orange County that has its own transit service.