GOOD RIDE: As a board member for...

GOOD RIDE: As a board member for the county Transportation Authority, Anaheim City Councilman Irv Pickler will be considering proposals this month to cut back Dial-A-Ride services, which provide transportation to disabled and elderly county residents. . . . But don’t count Pickler among those likely to favor cutbacks. After a March auto accident left him with two broken legs, Pickler found himself using the service three times a week. “You have to be in a situation like this,” he says, “to appreciate what you can get.”

TOP SENIORS: What’s on the minds of older Americans these days? . . . At the three-day American Assn. of Retired Persons meeting at the Anaheim Convention Center, which gets underway today (E1), they have speakers to cover all the basics: Consumer rights (David Horowitz), the environment (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.), politics (William F. Buckley Jr.) and sex (Dr. Ruth Westheimer). Also on the program are Betty Friedan, who says seniors aren’t that old, and Rita Moreno, who says seniors can have fun with exercise.

HIS HEART HERE: Add to the mix of top name speakers at the AARP convention some top name entertainment: Tony Bennett and Rosemary Clooney will perform all three evenings. . . . Both were nominated for Grammys this year (Bennett winning). While Bennett has picked up a new audience through MTV, both appeal mainly to seniors who idolized them in younger days.

BETTER RIDE: Fullerton Joint Union High School District drivers will be plugging in one of their buses next year instead of gassing it up. . . . They’ll be receiving one of the nation’s first electric school buses, now being designed for $300,000 supplied by state and private agencies. A similar bus was unveiled Monday in Burbank. The Fullerton bus, with its range of 70 miles per charge, has only one disadvantage, according to director of transportation Jerry Hart. “We couldn’t send it out to Magic Mountain on a field trip.”