Bus Riders Deal With Fear of Cuts : Transit: The poor, the disabled and the elderly rely on the bus. Some worry about losing jobs.

Some of the county’s poorest residents, its bus riders, stumbled for solutions Monday as they dealt with fears that their only means of transportation could be cut back severely to help bail the county out of bankruptcy.

Orange resident Charles Lee, who uses a wheelchair because of the debilitating effects of diabetes, said he “couldn’t go anywhere” if the bus route closest to his home is cut. When asked what alternative he might have to taking the bus, Lee just tapped the wheels of his chair.

Lee and others interviewed Monday at the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center said they depend on buses because they are frail, disabled or unable to afford cars. If bus routes are eliminated, these riders said, they could become virtual prisoners in their homes, unable to afford taxi rides to the places they need or want to go. Others who use buses to get to work said they might lose their jobs if their routes are cut.

The bus riders’ comments came in the wake of a proposal by the state Legislature to transfer roughly $1 billion from the Orange County Transportation Authority to the county for bankruptcy relief. Some state and county officials say that OCTA has enough money in reserves to maintain bus service, but the agency’s officials have disputed the idea, insisting that its remaining funds are earmarked for other projects.

OCTA’s chief executive officer, Stan Oftelie, has said that bus service could be slashed by as much as 90%.

More than 50,000 county residents rely on OCTA buses each day. According to the authority’s figures, 89% of those riders do not own cars. And six of every 10 riders come from households with a yearly income of less than $20,000.

If bus service is cut, one of the hardest-hit groups would be senior citizens, said Micky Scholte, who chairs the transportation committee of the Area Agency on Aging. He said that many seniors are too frail to drive, and that taxis generally are not equipped for wheelchairs. Scholte said the federally funded agency acts as a watchdog group for issues affecting seniors.

“Seniors would lose their independence,” said Scholte, 64, a retired accountant. Many would also have difficulty reaching nutrition services and senior centers, he said.

A local leader of a national Latino rights organization, meanwhile, said the Legislature’s move to raid OCTA coffers is tantamount to balancing the county’s budget on the backs of the poor.

“Officials are looking at the weakest element with the least political voice,” said Art Montez, the state director of urban affairs for the League of United Latin American Citizens. “The minority riders.”

According to OCTA, half of its bus riders are Latino, with 33% white, 7% black, 5% of Asian descent and 5% of other origins.

After the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Los Angeles County raised bus fares last year, a class-action lawsuit was filed that accused the agency of discriminating against poor and minority riders. That suit is scheduled to come to trial this fall.

Several Orange County bus riders said they could take other bus lines if the ones on which they now depend are cut. But those detours could double their travel time, which averaged one hour each way, they said.

“I’d get ticked,” said Anaheim Hills resident Edna Campbell, who is unemployed and without a car.

Bus rider Barney Villa said he owns a car, but noted that with the senior citizens discount, it costs him only 15 cents to ride the bus.

“I just pay 15 cents a stop, but when I use a car, it costs a dollar,” said Villa, 86, joking about the high cost of maintaining his car.

Santa Ana resident Maria de Jesus Castano said she depends on the bus to take her 4-year-old twins to the doctor. Her husband uses the car to go to work, and she said she could not afford to take the girls in a taxi.

Anaheim resident Oscar Solano, 20, said if his bus line is cut he will be forced to quit his job as a cook at an Anaheim Carl’s Jr. restaurant and seek work closer to home.

And Solano had some words of advice for state and county officials considering using transportation money for other purposes: “that they think of the people who use the bus.”