A.V. BUS RIDERS HAVE THEIR SAY.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Nearly three dozen Antelope Valley commuter bus riders met Saturday morning, many to voice concerns over a proposed bus route change.

Antelope Valley Transit Authority officials started contracting with a new bus company in August after numerous passenger complaints about maintenance issues.

The transit officials said they were pleased that the topic of conversation was more on route changes and less on maintenance problems.

``We had a contractor who was not performing for us,'' said AVTA executive director Bill Budlong. ``The buses were breaking down and passengers were having to wait for another one. The buses weren't being cleaned. This time, they weren't concerned about breakdowns and cleanliness, just routing.''

The Commuter Advisory Committee, made up of bus riders and formed to assist passengers in addressing their concerns, hosted the public forum to assure that concerns from the October meeting had been dealt with.

The October meeting as well as the September 2000 meeting were filled with accounts of passengers waiting by the side of the Antelope Valley Freeway for 30 to 40 minutes for another bus after theirs broke down.

Tardy buses making riders late for work was also another concern.

Nearly a dozen people at Saturday's meeting spoke about the proposed route change of bus 786 moving to the 405 Freeway and stopping in Century City first then North Hollywood. Currently, the bus travels down the 170 Freeway and stops in West Los Angeles first then Century City.

Issues of maintenance included broken seats and faulty personal lights above seats.

One man brought up the problem of drivers turning off the air conditioning while trying to climb the steep hills of the A.V. Freeway.

When asked what bus he was having that problem on, almost every member of the audience began yelling out ``all of them.''

Budlong, however, said that's actually a training error on the part of the drivers. Budlong said that many of the drivers believe that if the bus begins to overheat on the hill, they switch off the air to lighten the load on the engine, but that's exactly what you shouldn't do.

``In a big diesel engine like that, what the drivers should be doing is downshifting and leaving the air on,'' Budlong said. ``It slows on those hills but the engine stays nice and cool. That's something we can actually take care of right away.''

Committee members said they will continue to meet so riders can voice their opinions, but most riders who attended the meeting said the service and maintenance of the buses has already improved dramatically.

Overall, officials said that most of the problems discussed can be taken care of in just a few weeks time and were not as serious as many of the complaints had been with the previous contractor.