The Mission Las Vegas

By Richard N. Velotta, In Business reporter

Anyone who has watched tourists load and unload the popular double-decker Deuce buses on the Strip knows that there has to be a better way to move visitors up and down our fabulous neon byway.

The problem is that with the Citizens Area Transit system the fare normally is paid when you get on board. On the Deuce, there’s one door in the front (the entrance, where you pay the driver) and one toward the center or back (the exit). Because many of the Strip riders are tourists and pay by the ride — and there are dozens of riders at nearly every Strip bus stop — there is a big logjam to climb aboard.

On top of that, they are tourists so they ask questions like, “Where does this bus go?” Transit officials tried to alleviate some of the continuous questions to drivers by hiring some high school students to serve as “Deuce Ambassadors” to answer Las Vegas and bus system questions.

Because the route is up and down the Strip, by far the most popular route in the system, the long lines never seem to discourage ridership. It’s part of the Vegas experience.

Anyone who has been on the Strip during a busy weekend knows that mass transportation is one of the answers to clearing some of the congestion. It’s a nearly hopeless cause to suggest that more Strip employees use the buses to alleviate some of the traffic.

Yes, there has to be a better way. And by January, we’ll get it. That’s when the Deuce’s new Strip cousin, the ACE, will make its debut.

Many already have seen what the ACE buses look like. They’re running along Las Vegas Boulevard North from downtown Las Vegas toward Nellis Air Force Base.

The Regional Transportation Commission calls the ACE system “the showcase transportation initiative for the Las Vegas Valley.” The bullet-shaped vehicles look like — and will function like — light-rail trains. As much as possible, they will travel in dedicated lanes.

I’ve ridden two of the West’s newest mass-transit systems and can attest to the convenience of using light rail in Denver and Phoenix. But unfortunately, light rail is far too expensive for us now. ACE is the logical middle step between traditional bus service and light rail.

So what will set ACE apart from the Deuce?

The biggest difference will be in the paying for a ticket. Instead of buying a pass on the bus, tickets will be available at stations. Bus loading will be similar to light-rail train loading with doors opening widely to allow passengers to get on and off quickly. Station platforms will be built so that passengers won’t have to go up or down steps to get aboard.

In addition, the ACE line — the Strip and downtown route will be known as the “Gold Line” — will have fewer stops than the Deuce, potentially making every trip faster.

The Gold Line will have 16 stations with six in the downtown area in dedicated lanes. The northern end of the route will be at Bonneville Avenue and Grand Central Parkway near the Las Vegas Premium Outlets.

From there, the bus will go north to the World Market Center and to Symphony Park before turning east toward Casino Center and the Fremont Street Experience. Then, it will head south to Garces and Coolidge avenues (the downtown arts district). From that point, it leaves the dedicated lanes for surface streets and continues south via Third Street to Main Street.

The next stop is the Stratosphere, where the bus will cut over to Paradise Road and stop at the Sahara, right below the southern terminus of the Las Vegas Monorail. At Convention Center Drive, it will stop near the Las Vegas Convention Center and cut west to the Strip.

Once on Las Vegas Boulevard, the bus will stop at the Fashion Show mall and Wynn Las Vegas; CityCenter, Bellagio and Paris Las Vegas; Excalibur and the MGM Grand; Mandalay Bay; Town Center and the Callaway Golf Center; and finally, the Las Vegas Outlet Center on the southbound run only.

From there, it curls back to the north, using Warm Springs Road and Gilespie Street, where the southern end of the route is the South Strip Transfer Terminal.

Jacob Snow, RTC general manager, is enthusiastic about the ACE’s arrival and last week shared that and his views of other Southern Nevada transportation developments at a breakfast meeting of the local chapter of National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, the Commercial Retail Development Association.

Snow said about 33,000 riders use the Deuce on the Strip every day. With both systems, the commission is expecting 45,000 to 50,000 Strip riders, especially with the prospect of more employee commuters.

Like the Deuce, ACE tickets will cost $3 a ride, $7 for an all-day pass and $15 for a three-day pass.

ACE routes are planned to Henderson and to northwest Las Vegas. The Boulder Highway “Green Line” is expected to be running by late 2010 or early 2011. Snow said to the northwest, the “ACExpress” would run along U.S. 95 from Durango Drive and use the high-occupancy-vehicle diamond lanes and the express lanes under construction on Interstate 15.

On other transportation matters, Snow told the breakfast attendees why the state and federal highway trust funds are in trouble (they’re funded by gasoline taxes and motorists are paying less for fuel as well as driving less in recessionary times resulting in less revenue) and on how stimulus funds are going to be spent in Southern Nevada (mostly on roadway repairs, the new downtown transit terminal and some new Park-and-Ride lots).

“We’ll have more groundbreakings coming up than we’ve ever had in the past,” he said.

Snow also made a case for toll roads, but admitted that unless there was a major change in direction as the legislative session comes to a close that it would be one more issue that would be put off until at least 2011.

One proposed road that needs immediate attention and would benefit from tolling would be a bypass of Boulder City. Snow warned that when the O’Callaghan-Tillman Bridge at Hoover Dam is completed, the bottleneck would only move to Boulder City unless something is done.

Snow also gave his 2 cents worth on the proposed DesertXPress high-speed train proposal that would link Las Vegas with Victorville, Calif. Snow acknowledged that while Victorville and not somewhere farther south into the Los Angeles Basin as the southern terminus could be the train’s “Achilles heel,” he feels a connection to Palmdale to the west to link with California’s high-speed train network would make DesertXPress viable.

“And right now,” he said, “we’re supportive of anything that will improve mobility into the (resort) corridor.”

Source: lasvegassun.com