Cost to ride buses in Las Vegas Valley going up

Increased fares and more sales tax revenues will lead to better bus service in the Las Vegas Valley starting Sunday, the Regional Transportation Commission said.

Changes will include the extension of some bus routes and an increase in the frequency of other routes.

Every six months to a year, the RTC looks at existing routes to see what modifications can be made to create efficiencies for its 58 million annual transit customers based on available funding. The agency's funding comes from a combination of sales tax revenue and riders' fares.

"We've recently seen a slight increase in sales tax revenue, so that has allowed us to go back and look at extending service on some of our more popular routes and increase frequency as well," said Angela Castro, the agency's director of government affairs and media relations.

The RTC will get approximately 6 percent of the recent influx of state tax revenue, Castro said, but the precise dollar amount was not available Friday.

A decrease in sales tax revenue during the state's recent economic struggles resulted in the RTC cutting more than 278,000 hours, which created service delays and the discontinuation of some routes.

But the recent uptick in tax revenue, augmented by fare adjustments - an increase on Strip/downtown fares and a lowering of the reduced-fare discount for residential customers from 60 percent for some passes to a flat 50 percent for all - will allow the RTC to improve service throughout much of the valley.

Fare adjustments are expected to bring in approximately $1.3 million, Castro said.

"We're not able to give them back everything we'd previously taken away, but we are restoring a limited amount of service," Castro said.

Most notable of the changes, two popular routes will be extended: Route 206 on Charleston Boulevard, which currently ends at Rainbow Boulevard, will extend west to Fort Apache Road, and Route 210 on Lake Mead Boulevard, which currently ends at Nellis Boulevard during most times of the day, will have all trips extended east to Hollywood Boulevard.

The frequency of the Sahara Express, serving Sahara Avenue, will be boosted to every 20 minutes from every 40 minutes in the busiest sections of the corridor.

Also, the frequency of six routes will increase to meet a boost in rider demand:
■ Route 202 along Flamingo Road will run every 15 minutes, up from every 18 minutes.

■ Route 206 along Charleston will run every 15 minutes in the midday and early afternoon on weekdays, up from every 19 minutes.

■ Route 208 on Washington Avenue will run every 30 minutes on weekday afternoons, up from every 37 minutes.

■ Route 210 on Lake Mead will run every 21 minutes on weekday afternoons, up from every 30 minutes.

■ Route 106 on Rancho Drive will run every 30 minutes between Cheyenne Avenue and downtown on Sunday afternoons, up from once every hour.

■ The DVX, or Downtown and Veterans Medical Center Express, will run once per hour instead of every 75 minutes during midday hours on weekdays and once every 30 minutes, up from every 35 minutes, during peak hours.

Other routes that will see schedule and/or routing modifications starting Sunday: Route 104 on Valley View Boulevard/Arville Street; Route 105 on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard; Route 117 on Las Vegas Boulevard South/Silverado Ranch; Route 203 on Spring Mountain Road/Desert Inn Road/Lamb Boulevard; Route 212 on Sunset Road; Route 214 on H Street/D Street; Route 215 on Bonanza Road; and Route 402, which serves Sunset/Boulder City.

Fare adjustments will be made on both Strip/downtown and residential services.

The fixed route Strip and All-Access 24-Hour Pass will increase to $8 from $7, while the route's 2-Hour Access Pass will increase to $6 from $5.

For residential routes, a 15-day pass for $34 will replace the current five-day pass, and the reduced-fare discount offered on residential routes will be 50 percent for all passes, which means reduced-fare day passes will cost $2.50 (up from $2), reduced-fare 15-day passes will cost $17, and reduced-fare monthly passes will cost $32.50 (up from $30).

Reduced-fare passes are available for students in kindergarten through high school, senior citizens age 60 and older, persons with disabilities and Medicare-eligible persons.

Contact reporter Joe Hawk at jhawk@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2912.