They’re innit for the Short Haul : Children: Off to school they go. Or music lessons. Or home. In the ‘90s, busy times call for innovative measures, and services that transport kids for parents are a necessity of life.

Kelsey Berglund, who normally has such excellent posture, is slouching in the back of the Kids Kar van. “I really felt like staying home today. But here I am, on the go again.”

Kelsey, 5, is the reason Kids Kar for Kids in Motion was invented, and it is her little singsong voice you hear when you call the company’s 800 number: “For kids who take part--use the service with heart.”

And, yes, it does get her to and from swimming lessons, ballet classes and the private school she attends three freeways from home. But sometimes, confides Kelsey in a very loud whisper, “It’s a really, really long ride.”

But for the busy children of busy ‘90s parents, it is an increasingly necessary ride. With a huge sigh of relief and at least a twinge of guilt, thousands of working California parents are contracting with one of the 40 or so children’s transportation services that have sprung up in the state since 1992.

Since Kelsey’s mother Jody Berglund founded the Pasadena-based Kids Kar in April 1994, the family company has grown from one to 11 vans, from one passenger (Kelsey) to 300, with a 50-child waiting list.

The astonishing growth of what the state’s Public Utilities Commission calls “tot toters” reflects the astonishing demand by parents, and often by their children, to have it all and do it all.

As Barbara LeFiell, a San Marino certified public accountant, puts it, “Both my girls are in soccer, one is in softball as well. They practice all the time, and all over the place. I can’t do my job and deliver them everywhere at the same time. But everyone can do everything with Kids Kar doing the driving. I adore, adore, adore them!”

On board Kelsey’s van, seats are filling up fast as driver Cristina Barbosa pushes a “Jingle Cats” tape into the dashboard player. “Have you heard of these singing cats? This is their Christmas album,” Barbosa explains to a new rider.

To the felines’ unforgettable interpretation of “There’ll Be a Blue Christmas Without You,” Kelsey gives a fast history of her family’s business.

“Well, at first, I was kinda nervous. I thought, ‘What if the vans break down? It would just be a dis-as-ter!’

“And you know what? Some vans did break down one time. But it never happened to any van with me in it, so it wasn’t a disaster at all!”

Indeed, there have been no disasters for anyone riding one of Kids Kar’s new Dodge vans. And to keep it that way, Jody Berglund has voluntarily equipped every van with car seats for small passengers who need them, fire extinguishers, cellular phones, earthquake supplies and first-aid kits. All drivers are CPR-certified, licensed to drive school buses, free of criminal records, and subject to random drug and alcohol testing.

While such precautions soothe worried parents, the kids have other more urgent concerns. “Can’t we listen to ‘Lion King’ now? Those cats are giving me a headache,” says a Ralph Lauren Polo-clad boy in the backseat.

“Soon as we pick up Danny, I’ll change the tape,” promises Barbosa, a 26-year-old teacher-in-training and former camp counselor.

As the van pulls up in front of Danny’s school, the 7-year-old can be spotted waiting at the doorway of his classroom with his teacher. It was his day for sharing, and Danny is toting the giant pine cone he shared in a trendy Starbucks shopping bag.

At the next stop, 8-year-old Randy Patterson is loaded down with a backpack, a lunch box and a big plastic glass of what appears to be water.

“Look here!” Randy announces as he boards. “I’ve got my scientific project here. It’s baby shrimps, brine shrimps. I’m taking them home to grow.”

Kelsey holds the glass about three inches from her nose. “Well, I don’t see anything in there.”

“Of course you can’t see ‘em. Not without a microscope,” Randy says. “But I’m gonna grow ‘em real big at my house.”

“Will they be big enough to eat? Can we eat them in the van?” Kelsey asks.

This reminds 3-year-old Olivia Gonzales that she is hungry. “I like cookies!” she volunteers.

“She says she likes cookies,” translates Olivia’s big brother, 4-year-old Gianpaolo.

“I go home to Mommy and Daddy,” Olivia says.

“She says she’s going . . . “ begins Gianpaolo.

“We know, we know,” interrupt the other children. “Home, home.”

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For Kids Kar passengers, home is somewhere in the San Gabriel Valley. Most of their parents are professionals, some of them lawyers or doctors, who fax their children’s weekly schedules to the Berglund home on fancy letterheads.

From the Mother Goose-wallpapered room that once was Kelsey’s nursery, vans are dispatched to carry children--and if the children are younger than 3, their nannies as well--to lessons, day care, after-school camps and, finally, home.

Deborah Feliciano of Alhambra pays about $100 a month for Kids Kar to ferry her curly haired, brown-eyed kindergartener, Alexander, from school to the Tom Sawyer camp program at a church in Pasadena. Fares are based on trip frequency and distance, and range from $5.75 to $10 per one-way trip.

“I am so grateful for this service,” says Feliciano, a legal assistant in Century City. “They are so nice to him. They always remember his birthday and give him a little present. He tells me if something bothers him and occasionally he’ll tell me the trip is too long. But he also enjoys being so independent.

“It might even sound cruel sometimes, and you feel guilty sometimes, wishing you were there to pick him up and talk to the teacher and see the smile on his face. . . . But these days, you have to have the double incomes. You have to find somebody to do these things for you.”

Because more parents are finding themselves in that same position, the state Public Utilities Commission has proposed special regulations for the tot toters. The new rules would require thorough background checks of all drivers, regular vehicle maintenance programs, and driver training and education.

The state stepped in when commissioners discovered that some services were transporting unaccompanied infants. “These proposed rules address the commission’s growing concern for the safety of this new specialized service,” according to a recent commission statement.

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But at Kids Kar and the Encino-based VanGo, the two largest kids’ transport services in the state, owners say they have already taken most of the steps that would be required under the new rules. Neither has had any serious accidents involving young riders or criminal complaints filed against them.

For Pasadena scientist Joan Kobori, safety and reliability were the primary concerns in finding a way to transport her youngest son, Matthew, 5, from Polytechnic School across the street to Caltech’s on-campus day-care center.

“Just before school started, my transportation plan fell through. If it weren’t for Kids Kar, I don’t know what we would’ve done. It was too far for me to leave work and my husband is so busy at Caltech, I didn’t feel I could trust him to pick up Matthew every day.”

Few parents were so elaborately chauffeured when they were children.

“It’s so different now than when we were growing up,” says LeFiell, the CPA, who grew up in West Covina. “My mom, like a lot of moms in those days, didn’t work, but even so, I had to ride my bike to my piano lesson five miles away. Of course, my parents weren’t worried about kids being stolen either.”

The Kids Kar van pulls into the driveway in front of the Pasadena Boys and Girls Club. Randy grabs his glass of baby shrimp and trots inside, backpack bouncing on his shoulders.

Driver Barbosa, who also grew up in a different time, pauses to watch him go. “He seems so grown up sometimes. Unfortunately, that’s the life we lead these days.”