Strike Hits Seniors Hard : Many Helpless Without Buses

Nettie Pizzutello, 77, and Kathryn Moore, 76, peered from a bus shelter in The City shopping center in Orange and sighed when no Orange County Transit District buses appeared.

“This is so stressful,” Moore said as she huddled near her friend. “I’m always wondering, ‘How am I going to get home?’ ”

About 10% of OCTD’s estimated 112,474 riders are at least 65 years old, district spokeswoman Claudia Keith said. Some senior citizens say they resent the strike because they rely on buses to visit friends, shop and keep appointments.

Many must now depend on car pools, friends, taxis, other public transportation and available bus lines. Others are staying home waiting for the strike to end, said Lynn Smith, director of the Anaheim Senior Citizens Center.

Senior citizens are hurt the most by the strike, said Jeff Krips, 30, a district driver for six years. “Kids have their moms and dads. Other people have their friends. Senior citizens don’t have many people they can turn to.”

The county’s Area Agency on Aging has received calls from senior citizens who could not understand why the buses were not running regularly, said spokeswoman Nancy Schneider.

Schneider said the agency has been referring senior citizens to the Consolidated Transportation Services Agency, a county-based organization that provides low-cost transportation to its handicapped members.

Ridership has increased slightly after CTSA management agreed to transport non-member senior citizens because of the strike, said Dave Parker, a scheduler for the transportation agency. But passengers can get rides only if they call 24 hours in advance and are picked up on already scheduled routes, Parker said.

Charlotte D’Amelio, 73, normally catches a bus a block from her home to visit friends at the Westminster Senior Center, but now she walks several blocks to reach one of 12 bus routes still in operation.

“I don’t drive, and I am relying on the buses that do run,” D’Amelio said as she waited in the Santa Ana Transit Terminal for a bus to go home. “I had to walk these long blocks. That’s quite a lot for a senior citizen.”

Although the strike has limited D’Amelio’s ability to get around, she said she refuses to ask her daughter to drive her. “I’m too independent. I will only ask if it’s an emergency. It hasn’t been one yet. But if all the lines stop, then it’s going to be a disaster.”

Richard Marshall, 84, is an art lover who regularly roams Orange County to explore museums, galleries and studios. The strike has temporarily disrupted his favorite hobby.

“I used the bus every day except Sunday for years,” Marshall said as he boarded a Fullerton-Santa Ana bus. “The strike has sort of grounded me.”

Marshall said he sympathizes with the strikers, but he wants them to go back to work as soon as possible.

“They are hitting the public, not the company,” he said.

For Pizzutello and Moore, who take buses almost every day, the strike has left them feeling lonely and stranded.

Both are residents of the Twin Park Mobile Park in Placentia and usually ride the 30 line, whose route passes in front of the park. Now they have to walk several blocks to catch the 49, which is continuing to operate with substitute drivers.

The strike “is just not fair for the people,” said Pizzutello, who has no driver’s license. “I realized how lonely I was. . . . We usually go to the malls, beaches and see friends. We can’t go anymore.”

Striking bus drivers were sympathetic.

Barbara Squires, a driver on the Santa Ana-Fashion Island line, said she thinks about her passengers every day.

“We all feel bad,” said Squires, who has been a driver for 7 1/2 years. “Those are our people out there. We know they are having a rough time, and we want to help. But we have no other choice.”

“You get to know many of them who ride your bus,” Krips said as he held his picket sign. “They are not just somebody getting on. They are people with names and personalities. I just hope they know why we’re doing this.”

Elizabeth Price, 76, calls herself the “self-appointed grandma of OCTD drivers.” Her favorite pastime is riding the buses and meeting the drivers.

“I know 351 bus drivers personally,” said Price, who has put all the names of the drivers in her church’s prayer list. “I hurt for them, and I stand 100% behind them. I just want my regular drivers to get their jobs back.”