Blasts came hours before RTC was to unveil double-decker bus

Stephen Curran

Thursday, July 7, 2005 | 11:13 a.m.

The Regional Transportation Commission is urging riders aboard its Citizens ' Area Transit system to report suspicious activity by calling Transit Watch at 598-3937.

This morning's explosions that killed 37 people, including several aboard a London bus, came hours before the Regional Transportation Commission was set to unveil its own double-decker bus system.

RTC officials called off what was to be a promotional ride aboard the new buses this morning.

"We thought it would be incredibly inappropriate to have an unveiling in light of what's happened," RTC spokeswoman Shannon Stevens said.

The RTC still plans to use the buses to carry passengers along the congested Strip, Stevens said.

By 10 a.m., Metro Police and city marshal's officers were aboard some of the RTC's 305 Citizen Area Transit buses as part of the nationwide heightened security alert and an increased number of private security personnel were patrolling the county's bus terminals. No changes to routes are planned, and no incidents were reported to the RTC's Transit Watch hotline, which monitors suspicious activity, Stevens said.

The RTC estimates about 150,000 people a day ride the CAT system. Today's ridership estimates were not expected to be available until Friday morning, Stevens said.

The RTC in August 2004 approved buying 20 of the European-designed coaches for $11.7 million, adding to another 30 that arrived in May. Officials were unavailable this morning to discuss how the local double-deckers differ from the bus that exploded in London, although Stevens said the local buses are made by the same manufacturer, but are a different model.

"The double-decker buses are just another part of our fleet," she said. "We feel awful about what happened in London, but it doesn't affect us."

Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, who chairs the RTC, did not return calls for comment this morning. Commissioner Chip Maxfield, who also sits on the RTC, was out of town today and said he was unaware of the bombings in London.

Todd Walker, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Monorail, said technicians swept each of the system's seven stations early this morning with bomb-sniffing dogs and that unarmed private security personnel will be aboard each train today.

Each station already had up to 16 separate cameras in addition to those positioned on each car, he said.

"We've increased our presence in case something of a similar nature happens here," Walker said. "What we're looking for is things that seem out of place and out of the ordinary."

The monorail company contracts with private security giant Wackenhut, the same private company that patrols the RTC terminals, which positions armed security guards throughout the property in addition to those not carrying weapons, officials have said.

Walker said he did not know how many guards were scattered throughout the stations and aboard the trains.

Much of the system's existing security was put in place in light of the March 2004 bombing of a commuter train in Madrid, Spain, that occurred about four months before the monorail began carrying passengers, Walker said.

Monorail officials had already positioned unarmed "roving security" guards throughout the stations to scan for suspicious activity and those trying to sneak aboard, he said.