Countywide : ‘Big Wheel’ Loves Crowd at Bus Stop

To the bus drivers, their new 6-foot-7 boss may have cut an imposing figure, but his administrative experience meant little and his college degree even less. As the drivers saw it, John Catoe lacked the No. 1 job qualification.

He had never driven a bus. Not once.

“I was the first person in bus management here that was not a former driver, so I got a lot of, ‘You don’t know what it’s like, you can’t tell us what to do,’ ” Catoe said. “But I surprised them--I didn’t want to tell them what to do.”

At the time, 1981, Catoe was a mid-level boss in Irvine overseeing about 170 drivers. Now, as the Orange County Transportation Authority division director of operations, Catoe, 45, is responsible for all 860 OCTA drivers, and 739 buses. The duties have grown, but Catoe said the same approach applies.

“They’re the experts, they’re in the field,” he said. “They see the problems and they usually have some ideas about the solutions. It’s my job to figure how to apply those solutions and make sure it gets done.”

Many problems and solutions cross his desk. Responsible for the driver training, routing and placing stops, bus and plant maintenance, consumer information and coping with myriad vendors, he oversees almost every aspect of Orange County bus transportation.

In his current post, Catoe spends more time in meetings than in bus stations or garages, but he still tours the trenches and talks to the drivers. And even if he didn’t, he said they would find him.

“Drivers still come in my office, banging their hands on my desk and complaining about routes not meeting service needs,” Catoe said. “But nowadays their complaints are service oriented. Instead of complaining about the management, they’re saying we need more routes, more stops, whatever.”

Of half a dozen drivers asked to comment about Catoe, only one agreed, and he refused to give his name. The driver said most employees think Catoe’s doing “a great job” and has an “open door.” But union dealings with management lately make workers reticent to talk, he said.

That is not a new situation at OCTA. Catoe said that less than a week into his first supervising job, he watched drivers file past him, headed out on strike.

“I stood there and asked, ‘Why are you leaving, what did I do wrong,’ ” he said jokingly. “It was not a good time, but things got better.”

If things have not gotten better for OCTA, they certainly have gotten busier. In the last decade, Catoe said, ridership has increased 77%.

New fuel options, 100-passenger super buses, use of high occupancy vehicle lanes, all are projects that clutter Catoe’s meetings calendar while he is still expected to keep daily service up and going. Not to mention his other job, being a single parent for his 6-year-old son, Justin.

“Sure, I’m busy, everyone here is,” but I love seeing a crowded bus stop,” he said. “Every time I drive by one, I look to see. It’s my business, and if I see a lot of customers, I know business is good.”