Land Sought for Bus Maintenance Shop

The county is likely to have a major new bus maintenance facility in five to eight years.

Transportation officials took a step in that direction Monday by instructing the Orange County Transportation Authority’s staff to search for land--probably in central Orange County--for such a facility.

“We’ve had significant ridership growth,” OCTA spokesman John Standiford said. “We’re buying more buses to meet that growth, and we need more space to store, repair and keep those buses going.”

The OCTA operates bus maintenance facilities in Garden Grove, Anaheim and Irvine.

The facilities, on parcels ranging from 10.5 to 13.6 acres, handle a total of 640 buses. But all three are at or near capacity.

In the next decade, Standiford said, the transportation authority plans on expanding service by about half, with a corresponding increase in the number of buses.

“We know we’re going to have to increase service, and right now we’re at the level where we can’t do it with the facilities we have,” Standiford said.”

Under the action taken Monday, OCTA’s staff members were instructed to come up with possible locations for the new facility by early next year.

Construction is expected to begin in four to six yearsand completed a year or two after that.

OCTA officials do not know what the new facility will cost, Standiford said.

The three existing facilities were constructed between 1976 and 1983 at costs ranging from $9 million to $10.5 million.