RTC continues push to protect riders from sun and heat at its bus stops

The temperature was already over 100 degrees by lunchtime when Tuyet “Lisa” Phan hauled two cases of water bottles from her white Lexus and dropped them next to a faded blue cooler with “Free Water” written in black marker across the sides.

She tore open the plastic cases of water, then lifted the cooler lid to pour out any melted ice from the previous day and clean the inside.

Once everything had been drained into the nearby bushes, Phan began layering the water bottles between blocks of ice that she had made in her freezer at home. The 52-year-old woman, who works at a nail salon off Sahara Avenue, has been filling this cooler chained to the Route 203 East bus stop at Spring Mountain Road and Wynn Road for about 30 years, she said.

Phan used to get lunch with her co-workers in the Spring Mountain Plaza — adjacent to where the unshaded bus stop is situated — and often saw bus riders waiting under a baking sun with no protection.

“We eat over there, (and) we see a lot of people, but no water; it’s hot and it’s not good,” Phan said, noting that she has seen many riders and homeless people standing in this unshaded area with no reprieve. “I like (filling) it everyday.”

It’s one of many bus stops across the valley with inadequate shade or benches, providing little relief for riders during the triple-digit weather that settles here annually.

The best way to improve infrastructure to protect riders is to add shade, said David Swallow, CEO of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, which operates the public bus system and is responsible for bus stops in Las Vegas and the area. He said the RTC has tried to add physical shade structures or greenery to its street projects, but “hundreds and hundreds” of older bus shelters still lack shade.

Of the roughly 3,700 bus stops throughout the Las Vegas Valley, more than 1,761 have some type of shade shelter, but 1,659 fall within areas identified as “urbanized areas that experience higher temperatures than outlying areas” in heat map developed in 2022 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Swallow said.

And not all bus shelters are created equal.

The recent additions — which Swallow referred to as “general market” shelters — have drawn criticism from some riders who say they don’t provide enough shade, especially when the sun is less likely to cast large shadows.

“General market” shades have a wavy roof and seating, whereas “slimline” shelters have no seating but some type of overhead coverage and bars that protrude from the ground for riders to lean on.

In addressing bus stop complaints, the RTC said it was focused on creating “more robust” shelters that have already been integrated into upcoming projects such as Reimagine Boulder Highway and the Maryland Parkway improvements — both breaking ground this year.

Adding shades can be a lengthy process.

Before even putting in a bus shade, the RTC must coordinate with local agencies on what space is available and what obstructions or conflicts might be in the proposed shade location. Objects like power lines and fire hydrants near an unshaded bus stop can sometimes create problems when the RTC wants to add a shade structure.

Once locations are identified, an engineering team must create a detailed design for every stop location, then a construction company comes in and finishes the job. Putting in new bus stops — with everything from the engineering and design to the construction itself — can cost millions of dollars, Swallow said.

Providing shade

Though many residents don’t faint at the sight of 105-degree weather, the mortality rate related to heat “shoots through the roof” by four times its normal rate once the temperatures exceed 115 degrees, explained Steffen Lehmann, a professor of sustainable architecture at UNLV.

Homeless people, the elderly, those living with medical conditions, children, people under the influence of alcohol and those who work or spend lots of time outside are most at risk of becoming dehydrated and sustaining heat-related injuries, including sickness, severe burns or death.

The RTC “has been pretty aggressive, particularly over the last decade,” adding bus shades to its stops, both new and old, Swallow said. He added that the RTC had installed nearly 800 new shelters at stops around the county since 2014, and 116 have been added within the past year.

Along Sahara Avenue and in some areas of Flamingo Road, bus stops have seating that faces two directions. Swallow explained that the “extra screening” those stops have helps prevent sun exposure, and the RTC is looking to bring back “dual directional seating” as well as change the roof designs at stops from the smaller, “wavy” ones to a wider, straight covering.

In the next year, the RTC will be installing 123 more slimline shelters and 160 general market shelters. Swallow said he couldn’t share specific locations but mentioned that the hope was to begin these projects in spring 2025 and complete them before the end of 2026.

“It’s really focusing on, in particular, where the populations are most vulnerable to the extreme heat (and) where our transit-dependent households are located,” Swallow said. “We’re focused on getting as many shelters out there as we can into the community to try to help ameliorate some of the impacts of the heat. Whatever the temperature is, we want to make sure we’re providing shade wherever we can.”

The NOAA’s heat-mapping study of Clark County was completed Aug. 13, 2022, and found that heat islands were “generally concentrated in the central and eastern valley, though all parts of the region have ‘hotspots.’ ”

Neighborhoods in the urban core of downtown Las Vegas, downtown North Las Vegas, the Historic Westside and in east Las Vegas were most affected, the study found. That’s also where bus ridership is at its highest.

The Southern Nevada Health District reported 294 heat-associated deaths in 2023, a 78% increase compared to the 165 heat-related deaths the previous year, the agency said.

About 2,277 heat-associated emergency department visits were recorded as well, the SNHD reported, with the peak occurring in mid- to late-July.Records on heat-related emergency responses to bus stops were not readily available.

ZIP codes 89101, 89030 and 89104 had the highest concentration of heat-associated deaths in 2023. Downtown Las Vegas makes up 89101 while 89030 covers the middle of North Las Vegas and 89104 borders the Strat and stretches northeast of the Strip.

Other pockets include areas along Spring Mountain Road, which is dotted with bus stops that lack shade or benches – like the one in front of the Spring Mountain Plaza.

“The urban heat island effect is serious, it’s a real problem,” Lehmann said. “How do we keep Las Vegas cool, because Vegas is one of the fastest-heating cities in the world (and) in the nation … so we need more greenery, more vegetation, native trees that use less water and we have to counteract the pollution increase and excessive heat that we will see more and more.”

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