McCarran set for New Year’s, taxis face Strip gridlock

Wednesday, Dec. 29, 1999 | 10:42 a.m.

For the transportation industry, Las Vegas will be a tale of two cities Friday night.

On the Strip, Y2K may be the furthest thing from people's minds when they face the challenge of getting from one place to another in taxis and limousines under the scrutiny of state and county agencies.

Government officials aren't concerned so much about whether computers will work as they are about whether vehicles will be able to navigate the sea of pedestrian traffic.

Meanwhile, at McCarran International Airport, the concourses are expected to be eerily quiet while aviation officials watch to see if all the Y2K compliance promises they have made will be kept.

Long ago, airlines and airport personnel predicted that McCarran would be a dull place to be when the rollover from 1999 to 2000 occurs. Passengers will have been delivered to celebrate the arrival of the millennium. For several hours, traffic will be at a minimum with a number of air carriers canceling flights for which there was no demand.

"From about 6 p.m. to about 6 in the morning, it should be pretty quiet at the airport," said Marc Traasdahl, manager of airport fiscal services and McCarran's Y2K coordinator. "It's going to be pretty busy before and after that time, but we're looking at a quiet evening."

A quiet night suits Traasdahl fine. To make sure the transition from 1999 to 2000 is smooth, McCarran will have about 50 extra workers on duty as well as a handful of administrators.

Workers will monitor computerized systems, though Traasdahl said everything has been checked for compliance.

McCarran started reviewing Y2K matters in 1997 -- in 1998, the airport opened its D gates with scores of new systems and, at the same time, many old systems were upgraded to match the D gate equipment.

Traasdahl said the airport spent under $100,000 and used 2,500 to 3,000 man hours to check Y2K compliance. The airport has budgeted $500,000 for Y2K contingencies.

Just after the stroke of midnight, Traasdahl said the Federal Aviation Administration will be apprised of the airport's operating status. The FAA is monitoring the nation's air traffic control system during the rollover.

McCarran has the advantage of observing how air traffic systems perform in Guam and Saipan, which will have their rollovers before West Coast airports.

"Having them in the Western Pacific Region, we'll get 18 hours to address any problems that they see," Traasdahl said.

But Traasdahl isn't expecting any trouble. The worst thing that could happen is a major power outage, he said, and even if that occurs, the airport has a contingency plan ready.

"We feel pretty good about what Nevada Power has told us," Traasdahl said. "They've tested all the substations that affect us."

But just in case, McCarran has 23 backup generators that can provide emergency power for three to four days. The diesel fuel tanks powering the generators have been topped off with 26,500 gallons of fuel.

Among the systems that have been tested and are ready are airfield lighting, flight information display systems, ramp and security control systems, escalators, elevators and walkways and paging and telephone systems. The airport lighting system is wired to turn on in the event of computer failure.

McCarran is one of 500 airports in the United States and Canada that participated in the Air Transport Association's Aviation Millennium Project.

The association represents 102 airlines that have shared Y2K information to enhance compliance and boost the confidence of passengers. In November, the ATA conducted a news conference at McCarran to report that the aviation industry was ready for the millennium rollover.

"The airline industry is in great shape," David Fuscus, vice president of communications for the ATA, said at the news conference. "We're confident that air travel will be as safe on Jan. 1 as it is today and will be tomorrow and beyond."

Most of the airlines that serve McCarran are ATA members and participated in the Aviation Millennium Project. Among them are the two airlines that carry the most passengers to McCarran, Southwest Airlines and America West Airlines.

Southwest and America West have reported being Y2K compliant for months, monitoring their planes and their manufacturers as well as all their ground equipment and customer service support.

Las Vegas-based National Airlines also is ready and has had the advantage of buying many of its systems new. The airline began flying last May.

National spokesman Dik Shimizu said the company is looking at Y2K as a big non-event. The airline canceled its Friday night and Saturday morning schedule, not because of Y2K fears but because a lack of passenger demand.

Most airlines operate a reduced schedule on Saturdays already. Since the holiday falls on Saturday, there was even more incentive to cut flights.

But that won't be the case Sunday.

That's likely to be one of the busiest days of the holiday season as travelers fill planes to get back to work or school Monday morning.

The biggest concern airport officials expect to have is accounting for weather delays -- not here, but at airports susceptible to storms. Last year, bad weather in the Midwest and on the East Coast snarled traffic at McCarran and led to some delays and cancellations.

The crowds jamming McCarran on Sunday may only be rivaled by the masses of people on the Strip Friday night. Transportation along Las Vegas Boulevard is expected to slowly grind to gridlock as the volume of pedestrian traffic picks up and Metro makes decisions on where and when to close streets.

Access has been a big issue for Las Vegas taxi companies, which are being allowed to have more vehicles on the street during New Year's Eve but are frustrated by their ability to get them in and out of resort areas.

The Taxicab Authority of Nevada earlier this month unanimously voted to allow additional cabs today through Saturday.

The 14 companies that operate on the Strip will be allowed to add eight vehicles on Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m., 10 vehicles on Thursday from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. and 10 vehicles on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. On New Year's Eve, cab companies are authorized to operate as many vehicles as they have in their fleets.

That means on Friday night, there could be as many as 1,700 taxis available on what traditionally is the most lucrative night of the year for cabbies.

But cab drivers are more worried that Metro's street closures will thwart them from moving customers from place to place.

"People are going to want to get around on New Year's Eve," said Brian Guerin, a spokesman for the Professional Drivers Association, which represents Las Vegas cabbies. "But there won't be any access. Metro plans to put up a bunch of concrete barriers."

Bob Anselmo, administrator for the Taxicab Authority, said it's Metro's job to handle traffic management on the Strip. Metro officials have said they would close the Strip to all but emergency traffic when pedestrian volume overflows onto the street.

Anselmo said no special enforcement measures are planned for New Year's Eve, but the agency plans to cut drivers some slack on regulations requiring cabs to take the most direct route to a destination. Many normal routes, he said, may be closed when the Strip fills with people.

The other state transportation enforcement agency, the Transportation Services Authority, also will be at work on New Year's Eve.

John Plunkett, chief of enforcement for the TSA, said four investigators would be working in conjunction with Metro to keep illegal limousines from operating on the Strip Friday night.

The TSA monitors limousines to make sure vehicles are safely maintained and insured and drivers have no criminal background.

Plunkett said investigators would "stake out some of the areas where we've had the most complaints" looking for vehicles that aren't certified by the state agency.

"Our officers know when something just doesn't look right," Plunkett said. "It usually starts with vehicles with out-of-state plates that don't have their certification numbers on their bumpers."

Plunkett said some violations are spotted on New Year's Eve, but not as many as are found during the Comdex and Consumer Electronics trade shows.

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