Apr. 14, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
RTC takes buses over light rail for rapid transit line
Other concerns won't be decided for years
By OMAR SOFRADZIJA
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Express buses -- not light rail trains -- will ply a planned Las Vegas Valley rapid transit line if or when it's built in the coming years, the Regional Transportation Commission decided Thursday.
And whether Henderson will be served by a route, and where that route might go, won't be decided for years to come, commission board officials said after unanimously approving an express bus plan.
In the end, a combination of route flexibility offered by buses and not by trains; the cheaper up-front cost of buses; and opposition from some Henderson residents swayed the board in its plan for a so-called regional fixed guideway, parts of which could open as soon as 2008.
"I think we need to move forward with a fixed guideway system as a necessary component of the future (transportation network here). But we don't have unlimited funding," said Bruce Woodbury, a Clark County commissioner who's also the Transportation Commission's chairman.
"And we don't have the luxury of locking ourselves into a system that does not have flexibility," Woodbury said. "A rail system would have that lack of flexibility."
The line is likely to strongly resemble the existing Metropolitan Area Express, or MAX, line now in operation on Las Vegas Boulevard North, which uses bus-only lanes and makes limited stops to shorten travel times.
The planned system is expected to cost $713 million to build, compared to a projected $1.1 billion price tag for light rail. Those price tags are in 2006 dollars; inflation is expected to drive up projected costs by 35 percent.
"It looks like a train. It functions like a train," said Jacob Snow, commission general manager. "The MAX system has a significant cost advantage over rail.
"This is the best way to go for the community," Snow said.
This week's vote does not ensure the line will be built. It simply allows commission staff to start an environmental impact study on a proposed 33-mile route from North Las Vegas, through downtown Las Vegas and the resort corridor, and into Henderson; and to start trying to find funding for the project.
But the endorsement does give momentum to the plan, which had long been a favored goal of commission staff wanting to create transit options for valley drivers.
The roughly 15-mile Henderson section -- which would run along existing Union Pacific Railroad tracks there, and which faced vocal opposition from some homeowners living along the route -- appears simply to be a placeholder in the upcoming study.
Woodbury said the commission will later determine if that Henderson route is feasible, if other routes are preferable, or if that leg should be ditched. Either way, the Henderson leg would be the last to be considered or built.
"You go where the need is. You go where the ridership is," Woodbury said. "Does that mean we'll never go to Henderson? Someday, in the future, there well may be a need. But what route we take will be determined in the future."
In making its decision, the commission backed Snow's recommendation to use express buses; rejected a steering committee call to use light rail after a 15-month study; and rejected both sides' preference to lock in the entire route as proposed.
The system's initial leg is expected to trace what was once the approximate route of a proposed downtown Las Vegas Monorail connector. That route would stretch from the monorail's Sahara Avenue stop along Casino Center Boulevard to Fremont Street.
Transit officials had already been planning an express bus route along that leg, separate from the guideway project. Now, the connector will be part of the guideway plan.
"I think it's critical to the success of what the city of Las Vegas is trying to accomplish (downtown)," said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who sits on the Transportation Commission board. "Our vitality is dependent on people being able to reach us in a timely, pleasant fashion."
The downtown section could open by late 2008 or 2009. Other sections are unlikely to be in place before 2012.
From downtown, the route would branch in two directions: northeast along Fifth Street, Centennial Parkway and Pecos Road to a North Las Vegas terminal; and south through the resort corridor along Frank Sinatra Drive to the vicinity of McCarran International Airport.
That southern route could connect to the Henderson leg, if built.
Snow said the route could be further tweaked or extended to include destinations like the University of Nevada, Las Vegas or the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Critics of the Henderson section have argued a rapid transit line would slow traffic where roads and routes cross, depress property values and go unused in a car-addicted community with historically light mass transit use.
In February, opponents presented the commission with a 722-signature petition opposing the whole plan.
Snow said the proposal was a "very difficult subject of our community to discuss."
After the commission vote, some transit foes said they could live with the decision.
"They're going to go where it's needed, and not where it's not. It should be where the need is greatest," said Wendy Lee Meoz, a steering committee member who opposed light rail and questioned the need for the Henderson leg.
"It would cause a lot more problems than it would cure," Meoz said.
Rob Koeb's Henderson home abuts those tracks. He's glad a light rail line won't go there.
"None of us are against rapid transit. We're just against the section on the Union Pacific tracks," Koeb said.
Henderson will not be totally shut out of rapid transit service. Commission officials plan to tie the guideway into a MAX route planned for Boulder Highway, between the U.S. Highway 95 junction in Henderson and downtown Las Vegas.
Likewise, the existing Las Vegas Boulevard North MAX route will plug into the guideway at some point.
Jane Feldman, who sat on the steering committee representing the Sierra Club, had hoped light rail would win the day. "Light rail has a broader market appeal," she said.
Rapid transit supporters expect as many as 80,000 people a day to ride such a system, but critics think the totals would be much lower than that.
Project funding could receive a private sector boost from Connex/ATC, which operates Citizens Area Transit bus service under a contract with the commission. The company has expressed interest in helping pay for an express bus line here.
The parent company of Connex/ATC, Veolia Transportation, subsidized the "Transmilenio" bus rapid transit, or BRT, service it runs under a government contract in Bogata, Colombia that carries around 1 million riders per day.
"We would be happy to discuss further the feasibility of a partially privately funded BRT project," Connex North America Chief Executive Olivier Brousse said in a Feb. 20 letter to the Transportation Commission. The letter did not spell out any terms or precise commitments.
"They would provide a significant amount of the local (funding) match that could alleviate the need for a local tax increase to help finance the system," Snow said.
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