Anaheim’s Transit Transformation: ATN Takeover in the Works

Recent talks could see the City of Anaheim take over the popular Resort Area transit options and more.

Ahead of the weekend, The City of Anaheim held a meeting with the board of the Anaheim Transportation Network that could potentially see the take over of the popular transit system.

What’s Happening:

  • The City of Anaheim is looking to take over the Anaheim Transportation Network (ATN), operator of the widely known Anaheim Resort Transit (ART) Bus System.
  • The city reportedly has the goal of getting the agency into a financially stable position without asking hotel-owners to pay more.
  • The board for ATN, which is made up of hoteliers and other resort interests (including Disney) held a meeting on Friday at City Hall to hear a pitch for a takeover.
  • This comes after a letter of understanding that called for the exploration of this kind of move, with Anaheim now moving forward with the takeover, but must get support from the ATN board.
  • ATN has more than 8 million riders annually, mostly via the aforementioned ART bus system that primarily moves through the resort area, shuttling passengers from the area hotels to Disneyland and other destinations.
  • The agency gets their money from the hotels that pay into the system based on their number of rooms, along with rider fares. While ATN has increased what the hotels pay annually, the cost has not offset rising operational costs - mostly labor, which have gone up dramatically since 2020.
  • If Anaheim takes over the agency, the city council would become the authority over ATN, but the board would still exist to oversee many decisions affecting the ATN - though there is a possibility that the ATN as an agency could be dissolved. Whether or not that will happen or that agency will remain as is has not been settled as of press time.  
  • The city could and would take proposals from various companies to operate ATN’s buses and fulfill resort service, and has reportedly had discussions already with the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA)
  • However, Wincome Hospitality CEO Paul Sanford, who was chair of ATN’s board until recently, put a strong emphasis on the need for a luxury service, looking to enhance the resort as a destination. Regarding the OCTA, he said that they are “a very efficient provider [that] does many things fabulously well. But I have not looked at it as a high-quality luxury provider."
  • The city has also said that their plan is not to increase what the area hotels pay, leaving it unclear as to what level of cuts ATN could face, and what specifically they will be. According to reports, the takeover plan also says the city would continue pursuing money from a state transit assistance fund.
  • There is also an idea circulating that could see a fee tacked on to ridesharing apps like Uber or Lyft, or whatever transportation technology would be used to connect Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle (Angel Stadium, Honda Center and The Grove of Anaheim) to the Resort Area. That could be a recently proposed gondola system, as well as self-driving vehicles.
  • Reportedly, no decision came out of this first meeting, but it should be noted that there is another board meeting scheduled for later this month.
  • It should also be noted that ATN CEO Diana Kotler was not at Friday’s meeting. Having led the ATN since 2003, she submitted her resignation before Friday’s meeting, with her last day at the ATN being September 12th.

ARTful Transportation:

  • As already mentioned, over 8 million people use the transportation offered in the ATN annually.
  • While reports indicate that the bulk of the passengers are based in the resort area, there are numerous transportation types provided.
  • Along with the ART bus system, which traverses through the resort area stopping at various hotels and destinations, there are also systems that shuttle guests from John Wayne/Orange Country Airport called EVE, as well as a smaller system in the downtown Anaheim area that services local businesses and the popular Anaheim Packing District called FRAN. Best of all, this service (which as of press time only operates on weekends), is completely free.
  • For more information about this and all the systems, be sure to check out our post showcasing the ATN Transportation Options.

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Tony Betti
Originally from California where he studied a dying artform (hand-drawn animation), Tony has spent most of his adult life in the theme parks of Orlando. When he’s not writing for LP, he’s usually watching and studying something animated or arguing about “the good ole’ days” at the parks.
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