John Catoe

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."

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."

John B. Catoe Jr., the transit official credited with negotiating an on-time labor contract with bus drivers, said Tuesday that he was leaving L.A. to lead the Washington, D.C., transit agency. Catoe restructured services in L.A. County as deputy chief executive of the MTA since 2001.

Proposed increases in Santa Monica bus service, including the phasing in of 67 new buses over the next nine months, will be discussed at a public meeting today. The 3 p.m. meeting at the Ken Edwards Center, 1527 4th St., will also consider a scheduled one-third increase in bus service over the next several years, bus company spokeswoman Cynthia Gibson said.

The city's Big Blue Bus system has been ranked the best in the country by the American Public Transit Assn., marking the fourth time the system has won the top honor. Santa Monica Transportation Director John Catoe accepted the award earlier this week at the transit association's annual convention in San Francisco. General Manager Stephanie Negriff credited the honor to expanded routes, increased nighttime and weekend service and a new bus card system that makes paying fares easier.

Two daily round-trip commuter trains to Los Angeles will be added March 28, the Orange County Transportation Authority has announced. The addition will bring to three the number of daily commuter trains, excluding the Amtrak system. OCTA said the new service will be integrated into the Metrolink system, which has routes in five counties.

Santa Monica officials clambered aboard the city's new electric buses Monday morning as the first three battery-operated public transportation vehicles were rolled out during a beach boardwalk parade. The 26-foot-long shuttles hummed quietly as city officials took a spin in the new vehicles, which can operate for 10 hours before needing to be recharged.

Orange County Transportation Authority mechanics have taken over the maintenance of several Dial-a-Ride vans from a private transportation company because the vehicles failed a routine inspection by the California Highway Patrol. During monthly inspections in May, CHP officials found weak brakes and exhaust leaks in about a dozen vans maintained and operated by Dave Transportation, OCTA's director of operations John Catoe said Saturday.

More than 100 emergency exit hatches across the MTA's subway system will be fitted with new springs to decrease the amount of force needed to open the heavy doors during an evacuation, authorities said. Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said that if an emergency such as a fire, crash or terrorist attack were to occur on the 17-mile Red Line, some passengers might not be strong enough to push the steel doors open and climb to the street.