Study rates LV bus system best

Monday, Jan. 22, 2001 | 10:47 a.m.

A Harvard University study comparing seven U.S. cities has found that the Las Vegas area has the best bus system.

The study by Jonathan Richmond, a researcher at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, looked at service performance and cost of the seven bus systems, which also included New York, Miami, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver and Indianapolis.

The study looked at the relative success of contracting the driving and maintenance of the buses to private companies. In Las Vegas, Chicago-based ATC/Vancom operates the regular bus system.

"Las Vegas is the biggest success," Richmond said. That success is due to good communication and a sound partnership between ATC/Vancom and the Regional Transportation Commission, the public board that sets transit system policy.

Unlike other cities, privatization did not come after a transit system was in place, Richmond said. During the nine years that the RTC has directed the transit system, the two partners have been able to work together to design practices that seem to work, he said.

The system has 49 routes, nearly 300 buses and carried about 52 million people in 1999. RTC Assistant General Manager Lee Gibson, who was interviewed by Richmond, said the system is happy to get the recognition.

"I think this study just shows that the RTC, and Las Vegas, do things a little bit differently than everywhere else and a little more creatively," he said.

The agency and the company are able to resolve issues by sitting down and working them out cooperatively, he said.

Richmond said there is one significant problem with the local service: ATC/ Vancom employees' wages.

At about $10 an hour for regular drivers, they are not competitive with wages paid in other industries -- particularly the hotel and service industries that dominate the local economy. That contributes to a high rate of worker dissatisfaction and turnover, he said. "They've been the most successful, but the way the RTC has it set up, they pay them below market rates," Richmond said.

Amalgamated Transit Union representative Janis Borchardt agrees that low wages are a problem. He said the union, which represents the drivers and mechanics, will press for higher wages during contract negotiations later this year.

"That's the biggest tragedy in Las Vegas. The low wages make the drivers unhappy," he said. "Unfortunately, that's what happens with the private contracts. They come in, bid low and get the contract."

Valerie Michael, ATC/Vancom spokeswoman, dismissed the issue.

"I don't think there is an issue with wages to be resolved," she said. "We have a ratified contract with the union."

Michael and Gibson said the issue of turnover is present in other industries in the Las Vegas area, and is a product of the relatively low rate of unemployment in the region.

Gibson said the RTC will continue to set policy and service parameters for the area. But wage issues are between the contractor and its employees, he said.

Richmond said the RTC might feel more pressure to set higher wages.