A “Trip To Strip” shuttle van arrives during the Regional Transportation Commission’s Trip to Strip rideshare service launch event at the Las Vegas Convention Center Tuesday, June 25, 2019. The service is an affordable, on-demand rideshare option for up to 11 passengers, with no surge pricing, officials said.
Friday, Jan. 31, 2020 | 2 a.m.
On Dec. 31, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada ended a pilot program it had launched to compete with Uber and Lyft, which the agency says have contributed to declining RTC revenue.
The RTC’s rideshare program, called Trip to Strip, catered to those visiting the resort corridor by offering on-demand service in 11-passenger vans, minus the “surge” pricing model used by Uber and Lyft during busy times. But the service proved too expensive for the RTC to continue, costing $2.9 million during the roughly six-month period in which it operated and bringing in just $300,000 in revenue, RTC deputy CEO Francis Julien said at January’s RTC Board meeting.
For years, the RTC generated a profit—a rarity in the world of public transportation—on two of its bus routes: the Las Vegas Strip to Downtown Las Vegas route and the double-decker “Deuce” line along the Strip. That gave the RTC financial stability and allowed the agency to subsidize other bus lines in residential areas, said M.J. Maynard, CEO of the RTC.
But since November 2015, shortly after Uber and Lyft began operating in Las Vegas, revenue has plummeted on both money-making lines, creating challenges for the agency as it tries to keep up with rising demand for bus service from residents, Maynard said. Fiscal Year 2020 will mark the first year since 2010 in which the RTC will dip into reserve funds, with projected revenue estimated at $294.5 million compared with $301.3 million in costs, according to Maynard.
“We’ve continued to see a revenue decline, which has definitely impacted our ability to fund new service,” she said.
In Fiscal Year 2015, just before Uber and Lyft entered the Las Vegas market, the Strip to Downtown and Deuce bus lines brought in a combined $23.9 million. By Fiscal Year 2019, that revenue was down to $16.9 million, Maynard said.
The RTC is far from the only transit agency affected by the rise of ride-hailing apps. A 2019 study out of the University of Kentucky found that between 2002 and 2018, transit ridership declined in 22 major U.S. cities. Most of the decline happened after 2014, correlating with the growth of Uber and Lyft, said Greg Erhardt, assistant professor of engineering at the university and a co-author of the study.
But the situation in Las Vegas is more complicated than elsewhere, because unlike in most cities, overall transit demand is growing. Valleywide ridership has climbed by 6.2% over the past two years, a reflection of the area’s rapid growth, but no bus lines have been added to the system since 2016, Maynard said.
As a result, large, fast-growing areas of the Valley—especially in the southwest, northwest, west Henderson and North Las Vegas—don’t have access to bus service. About 15% of Valley households are farther than three-quarters of a mile from transit service, according to Maynard.
Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones, whose district covers most of the southwest Valley, said about half of his constituents live farther than one mile away from public transportation.
“I’ve been contacted many times over the last year from folks who’d like to have access to bus service, but also paratransit service,” Jones said, referring to the RTC’s door-to-door service for people with disabilities, the elderly and other eligible individuals.
RTC bus lines are concentrated in older, densely populated areas of the Valley and near job centers, like Downtown and the Strip, and that’s by design, Francis said. But when evaluating whether to add bus lines, the agency also considers whether people in a given area will use the service. Within three years of being established, a new bus line should experience an average of 20 passengers boarding per revenue hour, Maynard said.
That could explain in part why the southwest—which features mostly single-family homes and pockets of highly affluent areas where residents are likely to own cars—lacks service, Jones said.
“My understanding is that anticipated ridership is definitely a factor. That is population, but also, likely riders,” he said.
In the coming months and years, the RTC will evaluate ways to increase transit service frequency, recuperate lost revenue and potentially add new lines as it plans for an even larger Las Vegas Valley. The agency is collecting feedback from residents on its new draft mobility plan, On Board, which will provide a framework for transportation goals and needs over the next 20 years.
“As we’re doing that, we’ll be working on identifying long-term funding options,” said RTC’s Craig Raborn, director of the metropolitan planning organization for the Las Vegas area.
While it might seem like the RTC is fighting a mammoth force given the popularity of Uber and Lyft, Erhardt said there are other tools the agency and regional policymakers could consider to regain financial stability. For example, New York City, LA and Seattle are studying congestion pricing for cars, whereby personal cars would be charged a small fee during rush hour to reduce traffic and travel time for other modes of transit, such as buses. Revenue raised from the surcharge would then support improvements to public transportation, Erhardt said.
Another option would be to reconfigure streets to better accommodate buses, cyclists and pedestrians, rather than centering them around cars. That would lower travel time for those taking public transportation and hopefully encourage more people to use it, Erhardt said.
“You look at places like New York, and they have started implementing 14th Street as a transit-only road now. It seems to be viewed as fairly successful,” he said.
At this time, the RTC is prioritizing securing additional grant funding, which currently supports 18.8% of the RTC’s total budget, Maynard said. The agency also hopes a new partnership with Uber, through which people can view bus prices and buy tickets on the Uber app, will boost ridership.
“If we can save money somewhere, we’re then able to apply those savings to existing services, to enhance that service,” Maynard said.
This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.
