CAMARILLO : City Council Renews Bus Service Contract Despite Complaints

The Camarillo City Council has renewed the city’s contract with Laidlaw Transit Inc., despite complaints from residents about bus breakdowns.

The council voted last week to extend the three-year contract for another year until city transportation officials decide how they will change the city’s bus service to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Like the present contract, which expires Tuesday, the new agreement with Laidlaw will allow the city to give a month’s notice to stop using the company if the service is not satisfactory.

At last week’s council meeting, Leisure Village resident Joe Gaines talked about senior citizens’ frustrations at being stranded at bus stops.

“This particular service has been anything but satisfactory,” he said.

City Traffic Engineer Tom Fox said the transit company is not to blame for the bus breakdowns.

“Laidlaw actually is spending a lot of time trying to keep the buses maintained and running,” he said.

The city-owned buses, he said, “are at the end of their useful life, and like an old car, they tend to break down more frequently.”

Fox said the Federal Transit Administration has approved the city’s grant application for $192,000 to buy three new buses.

The city should receive the grant by next month, but it could be 10 months before new buses are delivered, he said.

Camarillo now owns two 11-year-old buses, which run 11 hours a day except on Sundays. One of the vehicles has logged nearly 500,000 miles, Fox said.

The city is looking at two options for the future: to continue the current service, adding a dial-a-ride minivan for the disabled, or to abolish the system and provide a dial-a-ride service that would serve all residents.

Before either alternative can be chosen, Fox said, he must wait for the Ventura County Transportation Commission to conduct a countywide survey to see how many residents would qualify as disabled under the federal act.