Tentative deal could keep Las Vegas bus drivers, mechanics from striking

After months of negotiations, Regional Transportation Commission drivers and mechanics have reached a tentative contract agreement with the company that provides bus service in the Las Vegas Valley.

No details on wages or the contract have been released. A ratification vote by union members is the apparent next step.

“We had a very positive negotiation and we are pleased that a tentative agreement was reached today,” Transdev spokesman Bill Marion said Tuesday via text.

In a vote late last month, members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1637 voted against ratifying an agreement presented by Transdev, the fixed route operations contractor for the RTC of Southern Nevada. The tentative contract had been negotiated by Transdev and union officials.

The ATU represents an estimated 1,200 drivers and mechanics at RTC/Transdev. The starting wage for a bus driver is $21 an hour.

Safety issues have become an issue for drivers and riders. It wasn’t immediately known if any improved safety measures were involved in contract talks.

A passenger was accused of fatally stabbing Dominique Lucas, 30, inside a bus in February 2023, Las Vegas police allege.

A union that represents transit workers told local officials in mid-April about two other stabbings and a shooting that had occurred within a two-week period.

Then later that month, a transit system supervisor suffered life-threatening injuries when he was stabbed at a downtown Las Vegas bus station, police said.

“How many lives are gonna be lost?” bus driver Dennis Hennessey asked during an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The 65-year-old is part of a safety committee that also comprises RTC staff and representatives from Transdev and security firms with which the RTC contracts.

A previous version of this story misstated the time of a passenger’s fatal stabbing.

Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VegasMarvRJ on X.