Mineta emphasizes transportation safety

Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2002 | 11:19 a.m.

The American Public Transportation Association's international exhibition of transit technology will be open to the public Wednesday from noon to 3 p.m. The new Las Vegas monorail will be among more than 750 displays at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Buses, subways, trains and monorails are essential to keeping the American and Las Vegas economies rolling, reducing traffic congestion and improving air quality, the U.S. Transportation Department chief said here Monday.

But Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, speaking on the first day of an international exposition and meeting of the American Public Transportation Association, said the key to getting drivers out of their cars is to provide transit choices that are efficient, convenient, environmentally friendly and -- in these days of insecurity -- safe.

"President Bush recognizes the importance of transit in keeping our communities safe and moving, and proposes to increase federal investment in public transit infrastructure," Mineta pledged.

Safety was a key theme for many of the more than 750 exhibiters at EXPO 2002. Mineta took particular interest in some of the systems that could offer greater safety for riders.

One of those exhibits is from Orbital TMS, a company that makes high-tech management systems for bus fleets, including the Regional Transportation Commission's local fleet of Citizen Area Transit buses.

The main day-to-day function of the system is to let operators and supervisors know where all their buses are, Orbital presenter Chris Vineis said. But the system can make passengers safer with on-board emergency warning systems tied to a central dispatcher.

And the same system could quickly turn everyday buses into vehicles directed to evacuate thousands in the event of a catastrophic problem for the region. Vineis said buses can be directed by text-messaging to evacuate people rapidly from the urban area.

More security-related products came from San Diego-based Cubic Corp., which makes ticketing systems for transit companies throughout the world. Matthew Newsome, Cubic product line director, showed Mineta some aspects of the present and future of ticketing.

Those applications already include numerous uses for the company's "smart cards," which can include detailed information on a prepaid plastic transit pass. Already, the systems are in place for New York City bridge commuters, Washington Metro subway riders, and London's Underground travelers, among other cities.

But Cubic's pass-card systems can also use digital imprints of fingerprints, retinal patterns and facial structures, combined with recognition technology, to ensure that only one person can ever use the card.

David deKozan, Cubic vice president, said the information is not routinely included right now because of privacy concerns. But some smart card users are choosing to include personal and financial information to automatically keep money on their cards and to protect the cards from theft or loss.

Beyond security, the exposition offered hundreds of potential mass-transit systems, including several that are or could be in use in Las Vegas.

Mineta, one of the few Democrats in high-ranking Bush administration positions, has been to Las Vegas before, most recently in August 2001. He has seen the congested highways that increasingly characterize the region's streets and highways.

He suggested that the new technologies will provide Southern Nevada commuters with alternatives to getting behind the wheel.

Mineta toured a French-built Civis bus, a prototype of the "bus rapid-transit" system slated to begin operation in Las Vegas next year. He also climbed aboard a monorail car similar to one that will begin carrying passengers along the Strip in two years.

And Mineta saw a train built by Colorado Railcar Manufacturing, an engine and passenger cars that regional transportation officials hope could tie Henderson and the Strip together in a few years with a cheap light-rail system.

Mineta, a former California congressman, said his experience in the Golden State taught him that Westerners love their cars. But transit can work, even in the West, he said.

"We've got to make sure that transit is in fact a good, reliable choice that people can be making," Mineta said. "We have to be able to demonstrate that transit is as safe, reliable and convenient as getting into a car."

To do that, he said, the Bush administration is looking for communities to make decisions about transit based on the needs in their own communities, including Las Vegas. The administration backs demonstration programs, research grants and other financing mechanisms to bring federal funds into the hands of communities.

The Civis system is an example of a demonstration project that will bring another transit option to Southern Nevada.

William Millar, American Public Transportation Association president, said Las Vegas is an example of transit options coming to the real world. He noted that all of the 20,000 expected participants at the exposition will see the monorail construction going up in front of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

"Las Vegas needs to catch up with the rest of the country" in mass transit, Millar said, adding that the Regional Transportation Commission has run the local bus system for just about a single decade. Other cities have run transit systems for more than a century.

"The good part is that you can learn from the rest of the country, and that appears to be exactly what you're doing here," Millar said.

Jerry Duke, RTC planner, said the exposition has a message that parallels what is happening in Las Vegas: No one transit system will serve everyone.

"The bus system, monorail, potential light rail -- they all are part of picture," he said. That picture also includes expanding the existing road and highway system, Duke added, with projects such as the Las Vegas Beltway work and the expansion of U.S. 95.

RTC spokeswoman Ingrid Reisman agreed.

"We are one of the youngest transit systems in the country, but people are looking to us," she said. "We are setting the standard for public transit nationally."