The tradition in Southern Nevada has been that public transit is utilized strictly by those who need it. The Regional Transportation Committee of Southern Nevada, and a certain congresswoman, are trying to change that.
Jacob Snow, general manager at the RTC, and Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV) are driving an effort to build an inter-modal transit system throughout the Valley, apt not merely for citizens who need it, but also for citizens who want it.
“The congresswoman likes to drive her Cadillac, and she understands people like their own cars, too,” says Berkley’s communications director, David Cherry. “What she wants is to provide people with an alternative.”
Convincing people to leave their cars at home is no easy task, however. To do so, Snow says, the RTC must do more than build a mass transit system: They must build an attractive one.
And that means it must be extensive, efficient, de-stigmatized of its inner-city connotations and, above all, cost effective.
All of which the RTC had in mind when they, with money Berkley secured from the congressional appropriations, developed the Metropolitan Area Express (MAX), a project that combines the speed and convenience of light rail transit with the cost-effectiveness and versatility of buses.
The MAX bus, which began as a demonstration project in 2005 and which runs along Las Vegas Boulevard North up to Nellis Air Force Base, is a streaming foreshadow of the future. Sleek and capacious, it runs on dedicated transit-only lanes and is equipped with the following characteristics to cut down on dwelling time and increase convenience:
• Traffic-signal priority, by which lights remain green for the MAX bus;
• Off-board fare collection;
• Interior bike racks;
• Multiple-entry boarding;
• And elevated platforms for level boarding.
Snow says 8,000 riders a day, overwhelming positive feedback from the public and no major problems with the service are evidence of the success of MAX, which is a partly hybrid vehicle.
And thus, another MAX line is currently undergoing design for the Boulder Highway corridor, between Downtown and Nevada State College in Henderson, and studies are being conducted on Maryland Parkway to see if that artery also can sustain bus rapid transit. Future lines might also include Las Vegas Boulevard South and Flamingo Road, says Snow.
Moreover, last August, the RTC began bus rapid-transit service along Las Vegas’ Downtown corridor with ACE, a bus similar to MAX but completely hybrid.
Both MAX and ACE were products of the $57 million in federal funds secured by Berkley in 2005—money designated for road and transit projects in Southern Nevada, including the Central City Inter-modal Transportation Terminal.
That Downtown transportation hub will serve as a pivot point for the inter-modal valley envisioned by the RTC, in which MAX lines, ACE lines, traditional bus lines and other forms of public transportation would connect regions of the Valley with one another.
“Contact your elected representatives, let them know you’ll use it,” Cherry says. “Because the resources are there, but you have to fight for them.”