CAT to add routes for veterans

Andy Holtmann

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 1997 | 9:30 a.m.

Direct bus routes from the Downtown Transportation Center to the veterans clinic and from the clinic to the veterans hospital near Nellis Air Force Base will begin operating in October.

The routes, starting Oct. 27, are in response to complaints from some veterans that it could take an hour to grab a bus to those destinations and another hour making multiple transfers before arriving at the clinic.

There still will be only one bus an hour leaving for the clinic, but the direct route will prevent the delays associated with the transfers. The clinic is at Owens Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard, about three miles as the crow flies from the DTC.

"I'm glad to see them making the effort," said 73-year-old Emily Griffin, whose husband has found the Citizens Area Transport system difficult to use. "I just hope it turns out to be everything they say it will be."

Kurt Weinrich, director of the Regional Transportation Commission, said officials have been working to solve the problem ever since complaints began rolling in about six months ago.

"We have periodically looked at areas that require additional service," Weinrich said. "About six months ago we learned about some of the problems at the clinic and have been working to solve them."

Weinrich said nearly 60 percent of existing routes in the valley will have to be altered to provide up-to-date service. He said east-west streets such as Tropicana Avenue and Flamingo Road need to be addressed because demand for bus service is increasing. The RTC's ultimate goal, he said, is to have half-hour service on all routes.

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