‘Tot Toters’ Are Talk of the Town--and State--as Rules Are Weighed : The popularity of child-transport services is growing. So is the concern that they be regulated for safety.

The day Suzette End first took her daughter to the ice rink, the girl’s ankles were found to be remarkably straight. End was soon to discover that her boss was equally unbending.

End, a single mother in Calabasas, had to give up her job when it became clear that 9-year-old Chantel was a potential Olympian who would require four hours a day on the ice. Someone had to take her to the Encino rink each afternoon--someone who didn’t have a full-time job.

Luckily for End, the problem lasted only six months. She solved it by hiring a children’s shuttle service called VanGo.

Such services are treasured by harried parents, torn between the need to transport children and to keep their jobs. Those who can afford it--and it isn’t cheap--increasingly hire children’s vans to ferry their children to school, day care, the orthodontist. “There is nothing like this service,” said End, who pays VanGo $275 a month and is back to work as a marketing representative.

The service is so popular that VanGo’s owner, Neil Eisenberg, has expanded his fleet from one van to 25 in just over two years. But success has its price: Not only is Eisenberg feeling the heat from copycat competitors, but his business has also drawn the attention of the state Public Utilities Commission.

“This is so different from what we’ve traditionally expected in child transportation, no one has had the opportunity to give it much thought yet,” said Emy Youngsmith, safety enforcement attorney for the PUC.

Caught unawares by a flood of applications from what it terms “tot toters,” the commission is seeking to draft new regulations to ensure safety. PUC staffers have drawn up a long list of proposed rules, including one that would require licensed day care providers to be on board with small children. “You need someone to watch the kids and make sure they are not choking on a toy,” said Fred Patterson of the PUC.

Eisenberg said these rules could push his costs so high that it would put him out of business. “We were hoping that this would be the year we would make some money,” Eisenberg said. “This scares me to death.”

Similar issues are being debated nationwide. There are now 240 private child-transport services throughout the nation, according to the National Child Transportation Assn., a trade group formed earlier this year.

Children’s van services are in such demand that many companies say they can’t keep up. Eisenberg says VanGo now transports about 300 children a month, and has a waiting list of at least 200. Leslie George of Seal Beach started a franchise called Kids Kab earlier this year, and now transports 75 children a month, with 100 more on a waiting list.

So far the state has been licensing child-transport businesses on an ad hoc basis. Some operators, such as Eisenberg, have virtually the same licenses as charter buses. Others, such as George, have several different licenses, including one similar to those held by airport shuttles and one tailored to school activity buses.

But faced with a growing number of these applications--14 are currently up for review by the PUC--state officials are looking to create a new regulatory category just for children’s vans.

Suggested regulations include required maintenance programs and criminal background checks of all those working with children. Also being considered are rules that would allow shuttles to transport children younger than kindergarten age only if they are accompanied by a parent or guardian--unless a child care provider licensed by the state Department of Social Services is also present.

And there is talk of requiring a minimum for 10 hours of classroom training and 10 hours of behind-the-wheel training for drivers.

“The hardest part with something like this is that you don’t know who people are,” said Youngsmith, the PUC attorney. “For me, as a mom, it’s a frightening concept.”

Eisenberg said many of the proposed rules are already observed by the industry, but others would curtail his business. He said he already does background checks, requires commercial vehicle drivers’ licenses, trains drivers in CPR and first aid and has vans built to safety specifications.

He is especially troubled by the child care provider requirement. Requiring additional child development training would force him to pay higher wages to drivers, who are now paid $6.50 an hour and up, he said.

“The logistics of this are already just such a nightmare,” he said. And overhead is high.

Insurance costs more than $4,000 per year per vehicle. Eisenberg has invested $500,000, and although he might make a profit this year, he has lost money in both of the previous two years, he said, adding: “I’m dealing with things I never thought I’ve have to deal with. I never thought I would have to deal with children throwing up in my cars. . . . I never thought I would have parents yelling and screaming because I want to pick up their child at 7:30 and they want 7:25.”

At the same time, though, Eisenberg and others say the industry could benefit from some regulation. “An accident involving children would be terrible for the whole industry,” said Gene O’Neil, vice president of franchise operations for Kids Kab International in Troy, Mich., and member of the trade association.

Accordingly, many services have embraced seat belts, driver education and first-aid training. George, of Kids Kab in Seal Beach, said she agrees with the majority of the PUC’s recommendations, and has even sought child care training for her drivers.

The PUC is seeking written public comment on the issue until Oct. 11, and will then hold a public hearing.