Transit
2019 selections & reflections from the Nevada Current’s staff
Note: 2019 was the Current’s first full year of publication. To look back on the year, each member of the Nevada Current staff picked a few stories (or commentaries in my case) they wanted to highlight. Maybe it was a story that had the most impact, or one they worked on most, or something that didn’t […]
From housing to skimpy services: Area experts trace systemic health risks
Ensuring the health of Nevada’s vulnerable populations will require workforce development, a focus on mental health care and investment in nonmedical areas like housing and transportation, experts said Friday at the Nevada Population Health Conference. Among the ideas proposed by conference panelists to strengthen the state’s health care system were preparation of high school-age and […]
Prominent Las Vegans gush over Virgin train to Victorville
The O’Jays — who enjoined people all over the world to start a love train — have nothing on Southern Nevadans who voiced their support Thursday for a passenger rail project with a sexy name and a decidedly unsexy destination. “For the first time I think we have a real deal to talk about here,” […]
Train to Victorville will eat into affordable housing financing
The proposed financing for a plan to reduce traffic between Las Vegas and California and stimulate the economy by shuttling tourists via high-speed rail has no public funding, but would slash bonding capacity for a favored source of financing for low-income and affordable housing. Virgin Trains USA, which is backed by Fortress Investment Group, intends […]
Demand for bus service grows even as fare revenue plummets
Growth in population and job density in Southern Nevada has lead to an “immediate” need for several new bus routes and expansions, say transportation officials, but a lack of funding and plummeting revenue is holding back any improvements. “Three of the four fastest growing ZIP codes in the valley currently have absolutely no transit service, […]
Why so many pedestrian deaths? Southern Nevada is literally built that way
Between 2008 and 2017, drivers struck and killed 601 people who were walking on streets in Nevada, the overwhelming majority of them them in Clark County. That’s about an average of 60 people per year, according to Smart Growth America, which lists Nevada 11th in pedestrian fatalities. In 2017, Clark County had the highest number […]
Cab drivers confront lawmakers, seek protection from ‘predatory’ companies
Excessive fines and fees charged to drivers by taxicab companies are draining drivers’ incomes, meaning the only way they can survive is by relying on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, public housing assistance, and Medicaid and Medicare. That’s what a group of about 50 drivers told lawmakers Saturday during a town hall put on by […]
Falling through the cracks in Nevada’s mental health system
Lawrence Banks can’t tell time, but when the “Judge Judy” program ends, Banks knows he has to leave for work. “I used to take the big bus. Now I take the little bus,” he told the Current during an interview. But in between taking the big bus and the little bus (the Regional Transportation Commission’s […]
Uber, Lyft “cannibalizing” public transit
Rideshare apps are putting Southern Nevada public transit in a financial free fall that threatens to devastate an already inadequate system, transit officials were told last week. And for all the political support for Uber and Lyft in Nevada, and despite cultural enthusiasm for technology-based economic “disruption,” there is no guarantee that disruptive companies will […]
Meanwhile, in Phoenix…
Last April, Southern Nevada officials rejected going forward with a light rail proposal in Las Vegas, opting for a rapid bus transit system instead. Light rail is too expensive, Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown, who also chairs the Regional Transportation Committee Board, explained to a June meeting of the Transportation Resource Advisory Committee (TRAC). At […]
A lot of talk about transit infrastructure, but not a lot of money for it
It would be great if people could get out of their cars. But Southern Nevada doesn’t have a rapid mass transit system that will make that possible for the vast majority of drivers. And that’s not going to change any time soon. Those were some of the takeaways from a Regional Transportation Commission “Clean Energy […]
Clean energy bills celebrated. Now, about those auto emissions…
Environmental groups, Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Steve Sisolak celebrated the clean energy agenda passed during the 2019 legislative session, but there were also calls to take more aggressive action to protect public health from auto emissions. The RenewNV Coalition, members of which include are but not limited to the Nevada Conservation League, Chispa Nevada, Battle […]