Bus strike affects fair-goers

Special bus lines to the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa won’t run this year as long as a strike by bus drivers continues, Orange County Transportation Authority officials said Tuesday.

Since the strike began Saturday, Orange County bus riders have made do with 31 of the usual 81 bus lines running. Two more lines, one of which serves parts of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, will be added Monday, transportation authority spokesman Joel Zlotnik said.

The bus drivers’ union and the transportation authority disagree on how to distribute proposed raises, and they failed to reach a contract agreement in talks that broke up Friday.

The two sides resumed negotiations at 1 p.m. Monday and continued for 28 hours without an agreement. Zlotnik said a recess was called at 5 p.m. Tuesday, with talks set to restart at 7 a.m. today.

The canceled service includes three weekend bus lines to the fair — from Golden West College, Fullerton and San Juan Capistrano — that were first offered in 2006.

“We actually had planned on running a fourth route from Santa Ana [to the fair],” Zlotnik said. “It was a difficult decision to discontinue the service but it was necessary to prioritize, and OCTA felt the most important thing was to get as much regular service for our customers as possible.”

Fair officials aren’t sure how much impact reduced bus service will have on fair visitors or employees, but Orange County Fair CEO Becky Bailey-Findley said she doesn’t expect major problems.

Some employees carpool, one contractor uses private buses, and the fair contracts out shuttle bus service to outlying parking lots, so that will continue, she said.

Throughout the three-week fair last year, 1,579 people rode the three special fair bus lines, Bailey-Findley said.

“Obviously, we’re hopeful that these bus lines will be back up and running,” she said. “As of today we don’t have any special [transportation] plans — I think we’ll probably take it as it comes along.”

Bailey-Findley noted that the fairgrounds — at Fair Drive and Fairview Road — are just a few blocks from bus route 43, which goes down Harbor Boulevard and is currently in service. Zlotnik said route 173 from Huntington Beach also passes the fairgrounds.

The lines that will be added Monday are Route 57, from the Newport Transportation Center to Orangethorpe in Fullerton, and Route 60, from Goldenwest Street and Westminster Boulevard in Westminster to East 17th Street and North Tustin Avenue in Tustin.

Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor, who represents the city on the transportation authority’s board, said he hasn’t heard from any constituents about the bus strike, but he thinks it’s hurting people who can least afford to lose their transportation.

The authority’s offer of a 14.6% increase in salary and benefits is more than fair, Mansoor said.

“If someone offered me 14.6%, I would say, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you,’” he said.