Bus Agency, Drivers at Odds Over Radio System Problems

Despite continuing complaints by bus drivers, a problem-plagued radio communications system used in hundreds of Orange County buses has passed a final round of tests that shows the system now works, officials say.

The Orange County Transportation Authority is expected to sign off on the $12.6-million system by the end of the month -- nearly three years behind schedule.

For years, the communications network, billed as a state-of-the-art radio and vehicle-management system, has suffered from radio failures, garbled messages and malfunctioning digital tracking devices. Bus drivers say they sometimes resort to their own cellphones in emergencies.

Despite assurances that any bugs in the system have been worked out, drivers say the radio system continues to fail regularly.

“There are certain parts of the trip where the radio goes dead on me and I can’t make contact [with dispatch],” said driver Darren Shelton, 39. “It’s not occasionally, it’s every day.”

Agency officials said they stand by the results of the latest tests and that the radio system, provided by Orbital Sciences Corp., exceeded requirements.

The agency says reports of radio failures have dropped dramatically. But Cinergy Innovations, whose job was to make sure the system that Orbital provided worked properly, said the statistics are misleading because they largely depend on dispatchers reporting problems. After several years of complaining, they said, dispatchers may have stopped reporting.

On Aug. 2, Cinergy’s contract with the agency was terminated. An agency employee now oversees that job, agency officials said.

Cinergy contends that the agency has not done its own coverage test to ensure that dispatchers can hear bus operators clearly from different parts of the county. Instead, Cinergy said, the agency’s project managers evaluated voice recordings collected by Orbital, the contractor. The agency acknowledges relying on Orbital’s testing but notes that the contract calls for it.