What happens when your car breaks down, for any substantial length of time?
Carpooling is unpopular these days, and in most cases, impractical. Bicycling is too difficult to sustain as a means of commuting in this sprawling metropolis. Walking has never been an option in the Las Vegas Valley. And taxis and rental cars are too expensive for common folks—even those who live on the outskirts of town.
Like I do. When my car suffered a critical breakdown last month, my experience was that there were few recourses available to me. The worst part about being shipwrecked, however, was discovering that there is no public transportation where I live, the Seven Hills community in Henderson. The closest bus route is nearly two miles away.
According to the transit map provided by the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, bus routes, for the most part, do not extend beyond the inner city, and very few link the master-planned communities on the outskirts of the Valley, in which hundreds of thousands of locals now live—Anthem, Southern Highlands, Aliante—back to the heart of the city.
It’s an interesting point to examine. The RTC’s website seems a good place to start. It says:
“The RTC determines where bus stops will be placed. If you’d like to request a new route, call customer service (228-7433) and let them know!”
And so I called.
The woman who answered confirmed that there are no buses that venture into my neck of the woods, stating the reason is “that it’s based on the number of buses versus funding.”
“Really?” I said. “What does that mean?”
“Sir, it means that we can’t go outside our service line because of funding.”
“Will Seven Hills ever be inside your service line?”
“Not for at least four or five years.”
“Am I the only one who’s called about this?”
“No, sir. We get a lot of calls for service outside our service lines. That’s why I’m
here.”
“Oh.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What if a lot of my neighbors start calling—can we get a bus sooner?”
“Can’t say for sure,” she said. “There are several factors.”
It’s true; there are. The Clark County commissioner in whose district I reside—Bruce Woodbury, who is also the RTC chairman—says that he often fields queries similar to mine, but that it is a complicated problem.
“There’s only so much money allocated toward transportation, so we put buses where there is sufficient demand,” he says. “There has to be enough people to support enough rider frequency.”
In the 89052 zip code, which encapsulates both the Seven Hills and Anthem master-planned communities, there are 50,731 residents, according to Clark County Planning Development. No buses, however, enter either of the communities. By contrast, the 89106 zip code, covering central neighborhoods near the I-15 and U.S. 95 interchange, where more than eight different buses crisscross, has a population of 30,806.
According to the website city-data.com, the average yearly income for residents in 89052 is $70,367, and more than 85 percent drive their own vehicles to work. In 89106, on the other hand, the average yearly income is $26,430, and 57 percent drive their own vehicles.
But it’s not just a demand issue, says Woodbury. It’s also a matter of resources. “We’ve struggled to keep up with the growth,” he says.
Yet, many neighborhoods that do not have transit service, such as the residential divisions west of Durango Drive and south of Flamingo Road, where city-data.com estimates average annual income at $40,000, have been developed since the early ’90s.
Of course, the mass-transit system in the Las Vegas Valley is still young. It sprouted into existence 15 years ago, when there were 21 distinct routes. There are now 51, according to the RTC.
Woodbury says that efforts to extend preexisting bus routes into new communities often meet political resistance. Especially from homeowners.
“They’re not concerned about the buses—they’re concerned about the bus stops,” he says. “There are some unfortunate side effects, like bottles and bags and other litter, and people wandering into private property while waiting for the bus.”
In other words, bus stops carry with them an inner-city aura, and that is wholly unappealing to residents on the outskirts.
“There is a reason we bought our homes all the way out here,” says Carmel Canyon Homeowners Association President Gina Falkowitz, who lives in the outer northwest Las Vegas region, by Aliante. “And we want to preserve the quiet, rural atmosphere where we live.
“So we would definitely oppose it if they tried to bring buses out here.”
Woodbury states he knows of no studies that examine the correlation between bus stops and home values. Moreover, he says the issue of bus routes is now a topic of discussion when developers come before the county’s planning commission with blueprints for master-planned communities, and that he would like to see some form of mass transit available in outskirts communities sooner rather than later.
Illustration by Colleen Wang