RTC drops low-rider route, adds express bus for workers

Wednesday, May 16, 2001 | 11:32 a.m.

On the same week that the Regional Transportation Commission eliminates three low-performing bus routes, the agency will bring two new routes to area riders.

The RTC's Citizens Area Transit service, the mass transit provider, will start an express route to run between the Lakes on West Sahara Avenue to the Pecos/McLeod area starting Monday. Route 805-Rose Line will be an express service during peak morning and evening travel times Monday through Friday.

On Tuesday, the RTC will begin a local service for Henderson residents to tie local senior-oriented housing to shopping centers along Boulder Highway. Route 716 will replace the 702 line, which RTC officials tagged as the most expensive of all bus routes for the agency to operate.

The twice-weekly 702's last run will be Thursday.

"We actually sat down with members of the Henderson community and mapped out a route that met their needs a little bit better than the 702 did," RTC spokeswoman Heather Curry said.

Route 716 will run Tuesdays and Thursdays in a continuous loop from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

"It really hits the spots that people want to go to," Curry said.

She said the new bus route will be cheaper to operate because it will use a small bus rather than a full sized people-mover and will not go to shopping centers on Sunset Road, which the 702 did.

The two new routes represent opposite ends of the mass-transit spectrum. The 805 is designed to move people efficiently, five days a week, to job sites on Las Vegas Boulevard. The 716 will bring shoppers twice a week to local retail sites.

"Our goal is to provide different commute strategies, thereby reducing the number of cars using local roadways," RTC Chairman and Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury said in a release.

"We keep saying it and will continue to do so: Commuters need choices in order to depend less on automobiles," RTC General Manager Jacob Snow said. "We will continue to work to provide and expand those choices so that together we will improve air quality and reduce traffic congestion while we commute stress-free."

The Citizens Area Transit bus system carried 52 million passengers on 49 routes in 2000. "Our goal is to provide different commute strategies, thereby reducing the number of cars using local roadways," RTC chairman and Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury said in a release.