Countywide : Electric Shuttle Bus Starts Airport Run

County officials on Monday touted the merits of an electric shuttle bus as it began regular service between John Wayne Airport and a long-term parking lot.

“We are setting an example and sending a message that electric vehicles do make sense as a healthy, cost-effective alternative,” Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Harriett M. Wieder said before boarding the bus for a test run.

The 22-passenger electric bus will run a 4.2-mile circuit in the morning and evening between the airport terminal and the Main Street parking lot. The bus will need a break from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. to recharge its 108 batteries.

The 216-volt bus began service Monday, joining two conventional shuttle buses making the free trip to the distant parking lot.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District awarded Southern California Edison Co. a grant to provide the shuttle bus.

Edison is providing the bus to the county at no charge for six months to demonstrate the usefulness of electric vehicles, company spokesman Brian O’Leary Bennett said. When the six months are over, the company will provide the bus for six months to another public agency for shuttle service, Bennett said.

The white “Zero Emission Shuttle” is powered by nearly two tons of lead-acid batteries. It can reach a top speed of about 40 m.p.h. The floor of the bus rides just one foot off the ground, making wheelchair access easy with a small ramp.

The AQMD is providing grant money to run several electric bus demonstration projects to increase public awareness of non-polluting vehicles, said Judy Hathaway-Francis, a councilwoman from La Habra Heights and chairwoman of the smog board’s Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee. The money comes from vehicle registration fees.

The state Air Resources Board has mandated that 5% of new cars sold in 1998 must be electric. By 2003, electric vehicles must account for 10% of the state’s new car sales.

The John Wayne Airport shuttle “will be our best spokesman . . . on the benefits and pleasures of electric vehicles,” Wieder said.