Dial-A-Ride Loses Vans, Hires Rentals

PASADENA — The city’s Dial-A-Ride service is operating in rented sedans while mechanics try to figure out what’s wrong with the six city-owned vans, felled by the recent heat wave.

“We fix them, we try them, and they break down again,” said Surya Solis, Dial-A-Ride assistant coordinator.

The 12-seat, Ford El Dorado Aerotech Minibuses were purchased in March, 1989, for $337,000 and turned over to MediRide, the Glendale company that maintains them and provides drivers for the city, said Dial-A-Ride coordinator Sarah Gallup.

There weren’t any problems last summer. But all six buses overheated during the heat wave 13 days ago and could not be driven, Gallup said.

Since then, mechanics at Wondries Ford in Alhambra have replaced various parts, including ignition system computer chips and fuel pumps, in a vain effort to stop the trouble. Only one van has been put back in service, Gallup said.

To continue providing rides to the 6,000 elderly and disabled people with Dial-A-Ride cards, the city has been renting five Ford Taurus sedans at a total of $300 daily. But because the sedans don’t hold as many passengers as the vans, there have been long waits for rides and fewer people served, Gallup said.

In addition, the cars do not have radios or Dial-A-Ride logos on them, which means drivers must leave the cars periodically to phone for routing schedules and to hunt for passengers who have summoned them at shopping malls and stores, she said.