RTC OKs firm to build monorail to downtown LV

Friday, June 13, 2003 | 11:22 a.m.

The Regional Transportation Commission on Thursday unanimously approved hiring a firm to extend monorail train service from Sahara Avenue to downtown Las Vegas.

An agreement reached by the commission makes Transit Systems Development of Las Vegas the manager of the project's second phase.

Following an April 9 approval by the federal government of the project's Environmental Impact Statement, Thursday's move was the last step needed to draw up the project's final designs and to enter agreements for grants from the Federal Transit Administration.

"This was necessary to take advantage of a window of opportunity no one wants to miss for federal funding," Las Vegas City Councilman Larry Brown, an RTC member, said.

The commission hopes the federal grants will cover as much as $169 million of the project's second phase, or nearly half of its total cost.

Transit Systems Management, a separate but related company to Transit Systems Development, is building the first, $650 million phase of the monorail -- 3.6 miles of overhead track with seven stations from Tropicana to Sahara. That portion should be completed by the beginning of 2004, Ingrid Reisman, spokeswoman for the commission, said.

The second phase will have as many as four stations along 2.3 miles from Sahara Avenue to Fremont Street. The projected budget is $394 million.

Brown expressed concern about what would happen if the project gets built but doesn't draw as many passengers as needed to pay for the project.

"As we get closer to the point where we have to fish or cut bait, real things begin to happen," Brown said.

"If we don't meet ridership projections, we, the RTC, are going to get stuck with a pretty large bill. What's going to happen when everybody has been paid and is on the beach and we're left with the responsibility?"

Jacob Snow, general manager for the commission, said that revenue bonds and a federal loan issued in the next year or so should protect the commission if the train is less popular than is hoped.

Even in the worst case scenario, valley residents shouldn't get stuck with much of the bill, Snow said.

"We hope to maximize federal participation and minimize the cost to local taxpayers," he said.

After the meeting, Brown said he "was satisfied with the opportunity to have the question (of responsibility) answered," and he added that he would continue to ask the question in the coming months.

"Anytime budgets and tax money is involved, I will ask these questions," he said. "But for now, I support going ahead."

Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson abstained from the discussion and vote on the agreement because he is a board member of Las Vegas Monorail Co., the operator of the train.

In other action, the RTC board awarded a $1 million public relations contract to Brown & Partners, a Las Vegas firm, to advertise the RTC's message to get people out of their cars and onto public transportation and to educate the public on the role of the RTC.

The contract provoked more discussion than any other on the 65-item agenda, as the board members debated for more than an hour how the campaign could convince people to change their commuting habits.

"We have to have some success in getting people out of their cars," Gibson said. "We're at a crisis point."