Hopper’s a hip ride

Newport Beach tourists and socialites now have a new way to get around town.

Business owner Mitch Morrison and daughter Kaylen Morrison are the visionaries behind two new high-end transportation services aimed at hotel visitors, shoppers and bar hoppers. The new shuttles will operate on Newport Beach’s busiest thoroughfares and provide a new means for travelers to get from one destination to the next.

On St. Patrick’s Day, the pair launched The Hopper ? a high-end bus service that takes Newport Beach bar-goers to various night spots and restaurants for $5 a person. The Hopper has a special license to operate from 7:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in Newport Beach.

For daytime visitors, the Morrisons are launching The O.C. Cruiser this May; a shuttle designed to look like a classic woody surf car to chauffeur people around Fashion Island, the beaches, the hotels and the peninsula.

Both services fit somewhere between high-end taxi cabs and limousines. The Morrisons still are developing their O.C. Cruiser fleet, but the Hopper looks like a pimped-out airport shuttle, with tinted windows, leather limo seats, flat-screen televisions, a sound system and an ice chest.

The Morrisons are billing the service as an alternative to taxis, limos and rental cars as well as less-desirable modes of transportation.

“None of my friends ever take the bus,” Kaylen Morrison said. “People in this area just aren’t attracted to public transportation.”

Rides on the Hopper are $5 a trip or $20 for an all-day pass. Taxis in Newport Beach run $4.40 for the first mile and $2.40 each additional mile, according to the Orange County Taxi Administration Program website.

Residents can also charter the Hopper for $90 per hour; Kaylen Morrison estimated limos cost about $120 per hour to rent. The group also sells advertising on the exterior of the bus to companies like Quiksilver and Shark Energy drink.

While the Cruiser is marketing itself as a way to keep excess vehicles off city streets during the busy summer months, the Morrisons are selling the Hopper as a public service to keep drunk drivers off the road. The Hopper’s phone number, (714) NO-502-4-U, is a reference to the old police penal code for driving under the influence.

Drinking and driving is expensive these days. Courts usually fine people convicted of drunk driving about $1,500, Irvine DUI attorney Robert Miller estimated. They also have to pay $400 to $500 for first-time offenders’ classes and between $100 and $200 to get their cars out of impound. Hiring an attorney to help with a DUI could cost between $2,500 and $5,000, and insurance usually goes up about $2,000 per year. On top of that, drunk drivers could lose their license and face jail time.

“It can be very costly,” Miller said.

The Hopper’s 14-mile round-trip route will go down Balboa peninsula’s Newport Boulevard and patrol Coast Highway.

So far, 33 area restaurants have agreed to participate in the program. Newport Beach Brewing Co. Manager Saara Hutchinson said several of her customers have used the bus and enjoyed it.

“I’ve seen the fliers on the table, and heard from people that they enjoy it because they can jump on a bus and not worry about driving,” she said. “From a restaurant standpoint, we like it because we know that people aren’t going to come here and get wasted [and] then drive out. It’s nice to know that they’re taken care of.”dpt.10-pubbus-2-BPhotoInfo931PQ1FG20060410ixfo43ncDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Vicki Schones hops on a bus outside the Rusty Pelican. The Hopper runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, providing transportation to bar and club hoppers along the Balboa Peninsula and Corona del Mar.