Anaheim’s fleet of buses that shuttle riders from hotels and the Disneyland Resort is reaching beyond the city’s boundaries.
Ridership on Anaheim’s buses, which look like red trolleys, nearly has doubled since their first full year of operation in 2003. That has operators looking to buy more buses and add hotels on a dozen routes weaving through the city and just beyond.
The buses moved an estimated 1.8 million riders last year, up 33% from 2004 and 29% from 2003. The buses called on about 50 hotels last year.
The growth has caught the eye of the Orange County Transportation Authority, according to Diana Kotler, executive director of the Anaheim Transportation Network, a nonprofit that runs the bus service.
OCTA runs the county’s larger bus system.
“We are a different phenomena,” said Kotler of competition with OCTA. “There’s no grumbling, just disbelief that it was pulled off.”
The Anaheim fleet, called Anaheim Resort Transit, launched in 2002 as a way to move tourists from hotels to Disneyland. Plans call for adding more buses to the current fleet of 28.
Anaheim Transportation Network plans to add nine propane-fueled buses this year at $156,000 each. A handful of diesel-fueled buses are set to retire. When all is said and done, the fleet should be at 33 buses, according to Kotler.
The system recently added its 12th bus line that travels just across the city’s border to the Hawthorn Suites along City Drive South in Garden Grove.
It joins at least eight other resorts outside Anaheim that the buses cover. Most were added in the past year.
Tourists pay $3 to ride the buses to Disneyland Park and Disney’s California Adventure. For some, that beats paying $10 to park a car at Disney’s lots.
“It’s a lot more convenient,” said Johnny Nolan, who was catching the bus from Hawthorn Suites.
Anaheim Transportation Network provides the service on behalf of hotels. The network is a nonprofit association governed by directors from hotels, Walt Disney Co., the city of Anaheim, the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau and others.
To become a member, $300 is collected yearly from the association’s 129 members. Hotels pay 48 cents a day for every room, filled or not, according to Kotler.
The bus system has an estimated operating budget of about $5 million for the 12 months through June.
In the past six years, the number of hotel rooms in Anaheim has grown 15% to 19,500, according to city spokesman John Nicoletti. Developers have submitted plans to add another 2,600 rooms in the next three years.
