Tuesday, April 17, 2001 | 11:13 a.m.
A growing population in the Las Vegas Valley is demanding bigger and better mass transit.
Increasingly, however, the Regional Transportation Commission is wrestling with creeping budget decay that has led to the first-ever reduction in service to bus riders in the valley.
"We're going to do everything we can to keep from reducing service further, but it's going to be a battle," RTC Chairman and Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury said Monday.
Last week the RTC formally eliminated three money-hemorrhaging Citizens Area Transit routes in the valley. One ran in the central valley past University Medical Center, another along Boulder Highway and into Henderson, and the third ran from Fort Apache Road to the Strip.
The Boulder Highway-Henderson route cost almost $18 per rider, compared to an average CAT bus system cost of $1.47 per rider.
The cuts were the first in the 16-year history of the RTC's bus service, and an indicator of financial stress on the agency.
On May 17 the RTC board will meet in Mesquite to discuss the budget in detail. Staffers say they will discuss several threats to the agency's financial integrity.
Among them:
* The Legislature is closely scrutinizing the budgets of local governments, seeking revenue sources to bolster state goals. One of the agencies legislators are eyeing is the RTC. Staffers say there's no room for a cut.
* The RTC's financial prognosticators have scaled back anticipated revenue from the county's sales tax. RTC Assistant General Manager Terry Cordell said the revenue sources will grow by about 4 percent next year, the lowest growth rate charted in the agency's history. The previous low was 6.5 percent. The difference will be about $2 million, and will directly affect its ability to expand or increase bus services.
* Diesel fuel and compressed natural gas have doubled in price over the last two years, affecting the agency's budget. Diesel fuel that cost $3 million in fiscal year 1999 is tentatively budgeted at $7.5 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Cordell said the agency is "treading water" in the short term budgetary sea, but the long-term impact, 10 to 15 years down the road, could be more dramatic.
"We haven't increased service on our CAT system for a third year in a row," he said. "Considering the huge needs we have, that's a shame.
"We're treading water."
The stall in creating more services could have affected the number of riders, which according to the American Public Transportation Association dropped last year by 2 percent, to about 51 million bus riders in Clark County.
The regional drop came despite a national increase of about 3.5 percent in the number of mass transit users, to 9.4 billion last year. The drop also came despite an estimated 70,000 people moving to the Las Vegas area every year.
Ridership nationwide is now at the highest levels recorded in 40 years, the association reported Monday. Analysts with the association said much of the growth in the number of riders could be attributed to alternative transportation systems, such as subways and light rail.
Some of those systems are planned for the Las Vegas Valley, including a monorail along the Strip.
The overall budget for the RTC for next year is tentatively $313 million. That includes $169 million for capital improvement projects, with $80 million going to beltway construction.
On the mass-transit side of the equation, the agency has budgeted $101 million for buses and further development of the planned monorail.
"It seems like a huge amount of money, but it gets eaten up fairly fast," Cordell said. "It gets frustrating, because our No. 1 goal is to get as much services and buses out there as we can."
Cordell said a national economy that is slowing after 10 years of unprecedented growth is putting a dent in all local and state revenues, including the RTC.
Some budget priorities can't be significantly reduced. Regional governments are committed to some spending to reduce air pollution caused by vehicles, mostly by improving mass transit.
The region is under a federal edict to reduce air pollution, including carbon monoxide, a potentially deadly gas mostly produced by cars and trucks.
Woodbury said those commitments include the monorail and "park and ride" centers to keep traffic out of the urban core.
"Not only for our transportation needs, but for our air quality we need a vastly improved mass transit system," he said.
The RTC faces some difficult issues ahead, he said.
"Short term, there's probably not a whole lot we can do except prioritize and make sure we're using our available assets to serve the most good for the most people," Woodbury said.
In the long term, the RTC will work with citizens from across the valley to chart needs and services within the funding framework, he said.
Some groups are more dependent than others on mass transit. They are likely to feel the pinch the most.
One is older people or people with disabilities that prevent them from driving.
"Anybody, everybody needs accessible transportation, but it becomes especially critical for seniors," said Jon Thiriot, deputy administrator for the state's Division of Aging Services.
For some, lack of mass transit means not being able to visit the doctor, go grocery shopping, or see friends.
Woodbury said it is not just the RTC and bus riders who are feeling the budget pressures.
"Every government entity in the state is feeling the pinch, the need for improvements because of growth and the local of resources to meet the needs," he said. "We are going to do the very best we can."
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