Tourists draw ACE while locals go bused

When Regional Transportation Commission officials unveiled their new ACE Xpress line from Centennial Hills to downtown, we were told not to call the vehicles buses.

They are a sleek, futuristic form of transportation that emulates light rail, said Jacob Snow, the RTC's executive director, who also enjoys the line: "This is not your grandfather's bus."

The ACE garnered national attention as Snow boasted that the technology would not only appeal to tourists, but also persuade commuters to ditch their autos in favor of public transportation.

Centennial Hills residents seemed to have bought into it. Several showed up the first day of service to check it out and determine whether it was a viable and reliable way to get to work.

But riders say something happened two weeks after our state's most powerful diplomats gathered to celebrate the ACE as a state-of-the-art commuter system and drowned transportation officials with praise . Passengers said the RTC began sending regular buses to the new ACE facility.

These passengers don't use the term "buses" to snub Snow's pleas to please refer to them as light rail, street cars or anything but buses. These are buses. The same traditional bus that motorists who embraced the ACE line never considered riding.

"When the ACE started, parents would bring their kids to ride it," said Steve Kaufman, who has used the express service every workday since it started in March. "People were happy to see a spaceship-looking thingy. Now it's all buses. When an ACE shows up, I'm like, 'Oh, we got an ACE this time.'"

Before, Kaufman said, the ACE vehicles were packed. The buses? Not so much. He says about 30 percent of his former fellow passengers have abandoned the express route.

Kaufman said a bus driver told him the change was temporary and done to give mechanics time to fix the ACE vehicles, which apparently had a problem with parts falling off. Hmmm, sounds like another Las Vegas mode of transportation that is sort of like a train but sort of isn't.

Allison Blankenship, spokeswoman for the RTC, says this isn't so.

Initially, the vehicle had problems with emergency indicators going off, forcing the drivers to pull over, but those were "hiccups" that accompany any new technology.

The reason buses now service Centennial Hills is that ridership has exceeded expectations and there are only a certain number of ACE vehicles, about 40. Blankenship said the agency projected that up to 6,000 people a day would ride the Gold Line, which runs along the resort corridor. That number is actually 20,000.

Once the C-line service "matures," they expect about 1,800 riders a day; presently about 800 take it every day.

The transportation agency decided to move some of the sleek vehicles to a different route, the Gold Line, which ferries passengers between downtown, the convention center and the Strip.

"Because the demand has been so high, we have diverted some of those vehicles to the Gold Line," she said. "The express line isn't defined by the vehicle we use. The majority of the time, we use the ACE."

That is not what regular passengers are saying. While sitting at the Centennial Hill facility Thursday afternoon, I counted five traditional buses on the C-line route -- they also run non-express routes out of the station -- and one ACE vehicle.

Sure, the buses still offer quicker trips downtown via high-occupancy vehicle lanes, but RTC representatives pushed the ACE vehicle as its big sales pitch to get people out of their cars. Since the big celebration in March, signs have been posted indicating passengers taking the express route might get an ACE vehicle, or they might get a bus.

Idalia Keebler, who relies on the service daily, said she typically gets a bus for her trip to work at the Las Vegas Premium Outlets. She estimates she sees an ACE vehicle at Centennial Hills three times a week at most.

"The ACE is smoother and more comfortable," Keebler said. "I guess they do what's best for the tourists because that's what keeps the city going."

"I don't think it's right," Kaufman said, adding that the luxury vehicles shouldn't be taken away from the taxpaying locals and given to tourists. "But tourists bring in a lot more money than locals, so I guess you can't complain."

Can't we?

Granted, the Gold Line benefits some locals who make their living on the Strip, but you have to believe most of the passengers the ACE carries along the corridor every day are visitors.

Why not put the extra buses on the Strip and allow residents to enjoy their new mode of public transit?

Tourists typically don't have cars and really don't have a choice but to take whatever form of transportation is offered.

Residents can choose to reject whatever RTC offers as they have in the past. Those who believe they were the victims of an RTC-orchestrated bait-and-switch can return to their vehicles, a habit the ACE was expected to break with light-rail-like vehicles, not buses.

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call Adrienne Packer at 702-387-2904, or send an e-mail to roadwarrior@reviewjournal
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