RTC of Southern Nevada (Las Vegas)

[MVTArider]

8 hours ago, Jared Kam said:

Nice work!  I've been to Vegas on a number of times and never took the time to document my findings...interesting to see those hybrids retired so early - one would think that they could resell them to another agency if they were a bad fit for their fleet.

Thanks

The main reason they scrap their units is due to requirements with the funding they buy them with. Apparently they have more financial incentive to scrap than to auction. The reason their buses are often pulled after only 9-10 years of service is they pack on a LOT of mileage. I was told some of their new CNG Xcelsiors which are currently assigned to some of the longest service blocks have been logging in at over 10,000 miles in a month. At 10 years many units are simply already past the 500,000 mile mark and eligible for replacement under the FTA rules. This is largely du to the service market being so heavy on 24/7 service levels. Even on the weekends and overnight a lot of the fleet is still out on the road, whereas most agencies have a lot of their fleet NIS at their garages and yards during those periods.

[t_harris01]

Hey guys 

 

I'm planning my 1st ever trip to Las Vegas in December from the 4 to 7. 3 days only...where is best locations to get some decent bus shots...also if ya know any train fanning areas as well great but catch is has to be accessible by transit. Your help is greatly appreciated

[Cimon8000]

i am wondering if the oldest batch of Enviro 500, #200 to 249, will be scheduled for retirement soon or not?  Moreover, if they will be replaced by new articulated buses or new double deckers?  Thank you very much.

[septa105R5/seClip9]

 

Forgot share this. Last month in Late June, I was in Las Vegas, and got great video of RTC Transit Buses as well as the popular tourist bus route (Deuce and SDX (Strip and Downtown Express). As well as Las Vegas Monorail. Featured buses including Alexander Dennis Enviro 500, New Flyer Xcelsior XN40 and XN60 and many more.

 

 

 

Las Vegas is a great place to visit with much of the attractions along the strip from south to north along Las Vegas Blvd. Including Freemont Street as well. I did get some video footage of these buses there though not a lot because of Las Vegas's hot weather.

 

 

 

Of course a number of route including the popular tourist Route Deuce (serving destinations between Mandala Bay Casino and Freemont Street; during midnight hours, route extended south to South Strip Terminal) is 24 hours a day route. SDX (Strip and Downtown Express) is also another popular Route which runs daily from 9am to 11:59pm, serving popular tourist destinations between South Strip Terminal and North Las Vegas Premium Outlet. Interesting to see those Alexander Dennis Enviro 500 and Wright StreetCar RTV. 

 

 

 

Other buses seen on regular transit route as seen are mainly New Flyer Xcelsior XN40 and XN60. I did however saw a 2005 New Flyer D60LF on a regular route as well; that bus is still running even though it is 12 years old.

 

 

 

Lastly on a separate transit system, I've rode on Las Vegas Monorail whose service runs parallel along the Strip and serving mainly on casino stops. 

 

 

 

 

[Border City Transit]

53 minutes ago, septa105R5/seClip9 said:

Las Vegas is a great place to visit with much of the attractions along the strip from south to north along Las Vegas Blvd. Including Freemont Street as well. I did get some video footage of these buses there though not a lot because of Las Vegas's hot weather.

Nice.

Las Vegas is a pretty fascinating place for transit. Despite a sprawling, suburban landscape laced with wide, high-speed roads, they've managed to create a heavily used bus system from almost nothing. As a robust transit corridor, Boulder Highway is especially unlikely (current BHX, former 107/407).

As recently as, what, 1993... almost none of today's transit routes even existed!

There are lessons here for other suburban-ish systems: invest in good coverage and decent frequency, and people will ride. In Las Vegas, neither coverage nor frequency is excellent... but both attributes are several cuts above comparable metro areas. Even distant suburban areas enjoy 20-30 minute headways, often with 24/7 span.

Yeah... gotta love a fleet with all those artics and double-deckers. Just wish so many of their "specialty" buses weren't ad-wrapped!

I'm not a great fan of contracting out service, but I'll hand it to the private operators (Kéolis and MV?): they do a decent job of maintaining the fleet in punishing conditions. Scorching hot weather, heavy loads and demanding schedules.

Unlike 'regular' cities, peak hours in Las Vegas are basically 8:00am to midnight... seven days a week. That means buses are on the road for far longer hours than other cities. Peak pieces, where buses work 3-6 hours a weekday during rush hours only, are almost non-existent in Las Vegas. Other systems use such pieces to balance mileage and let each bus "relax" every few days. That's hardly an option in Las Vegas!

Thanks for sharing!

 

 

[Buzz2kb]

Hop on my time machine back to the Las Vegas of 11 years ago!  When I paid a visit to Las Vegas 11 years ago for an professional conference, RTC was still doing business as Citizens Area Transit (CAT), and I had pictured a variety of standard-issue high and low floor transit buses, as well as a double-decker and a novelty artic.  All the buses pictured during that visit but the Deuce (double deck) bus 209 and possibly New Flyer D60LF 822 are now retired from service.

Buses 408 (pictured at the South Strip Transfer Terminal/SSTT) and 474 (seen on non-revenue use near the now-closed Downtown Transportation Center/DTC),were two of the ninety 1992 New Flyer D40HF buses while bus bus 523 was one of six D60HF's new in 1996 taken at the northern end of line of the old MAX guided BRT line (more on that later).  Back then, RTC had a way more diverse fleet even for conventional artics, as illustrated by bus 507, a 2001 Neoplan USA AN460LF pictured at the DTC, buses 559 and 568; 1997 and 1998 NABI 436's pictured at the same location as bus 523 and the SSTT respectively.  One last conventional artic featured here is 2004 D60LF 822 pictured at the SSTT.  If any buses of this batch still survive, they would be RTC's oldest active buses by now.

Back to the non-articulated buses, bus 652 was a 1995 D40LF while bus 672 was a 2001 C40LF.  Both were pictured at the former DTC.  Meanwhile, buses 701 and 705 were 1999 NABI 40-LFW's.  While the former was yet another bus pictured at the northern end of line of the MAX line, the latter bus was a repaint to the gold-based livery pioneered by the Deuce buses and pictured at the DTC.  One last 40ft. bus featured here was bus 915, a 2006 DE40LFR pictured at the DTC.  The 900-series buses were the first ones to carry the RTC fleet name.

At the time, there were two flagship fleets of buses at RTC: The Deuce branded Alexander Dennis Enviro 500 double deckers as exemplified by bus 209 pictured  at the SSTT and by now among the oldest active buses at RTC; and the 2003 Irisbus Civis optically guided hybrid BRT buses branded for the North Las Vegas Blvd MAX line like bus M08.  Ironically, route 113 where NABI bus 701 was spotted running on has since completely replaced service the MAX line and caused these exceedingly rare buses to be retired at just 13 years old.  

One last bus type featured here was 1 of the 4 Eldorado National Transmark purchased for the City Ride service pictured at the DTC.  Can anyone shed any light on the background on that service?

Here is my RTC of Southern Nevada throwback gallery:

RTC of Southern Nevada

[andrethebusman]

CityRide was run by the city directly. Originally used faux trolleys. There is apparently a successor service run by a contractor with cutaways that runs a loop between Stewart and Charleston. Also, there were 6, not 4 ElDorados for CityRide, though only 3 were used on any given day. Also, CAT had 20 similar EDN's 351-370 used on lighter routes out of Tompkins garage. 

[Orion 1200]

Thanks for the shots, @Buzz2kb - I first visited Las Vegas in 2008 and they had recently become RTC, but a lot of CAT branding was still around, including on the seat inserts of a new batch of E500s which had RTC logos on the outside.

The D40s were either gone or eluded me on that trip, but everything else that you saw was still around. Also interesting that 725 was already painted in gold at that time - I never successfully photographed any of them in that livery and I didn't think that any had been repainted that long ago.

I have a shot of a cutaway in the CItyRide livery from that trip so they had some other equipment by that point as well.

I was also in Las Vegas the weekend that the MAX line ended in 2016. I was hoping that to get one last ride on an Irisbus then, but I only saw one out the entire trip as the E500s had mostly replaced them by that point. Their fleet is a lot less interesting now with multiple Xcelsior orders over the past 5 years, the E500s slowly retiring and all buses in old liveries gone other than some of the D60LFs.

[Ztonyg]

I was surprised to see New Flyer D60LF 800 in service on Wednesday evening.

How many D60LFs are still in service? Also, what is the reasoning for keeping the D60LFs around (while a lot of newer D40LFR, C40LFR, and NABI 40LFW buses have been retired)?

[The Neoplan Rider Studios]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTC_Transit

[andrethebusman]

Low 800's died around January 2019. Saw one in December 2018 on 109, never saw one again. 18700's replaced them. Oldest buses now are 300's on WAX and on various residential routes at random. Due to interlining, you can see almost anything anywhere, such as a 17700 on the 214 last Sunday evening.

[andrethebusman]

994 in service on SX-B this evening (4/1). Only 949-998 series Nabi seen in service in two months. Only 838 and 841 of series 830-844 seen recently.

[Jared Kam]

Those Deuce buses ought to be getting close to retirement...with the abuse they take on a 24 hour line I can't imagine that they haven't exceeded their useful life.  Would be interested to see if they will replace them with new Alexander Dennis Enviro's or if they will go a more traditional articulated route (no pun intended )

[andrethebusman]

200 dd's are starting to drop. 6 seen at SA Salvage 4/28. Remaining 301-345 and 969-998 C40LF's running again after being parked for several months to replace them. 830-844 all running.

Wright 012 did exist at one time, but was used to test battery technology when original batteries were found to be troublesome. It is no longer around, and was apparently never accepted by RTC.

[3we]

On 4/28/2019 at 6:47 PM, andrethebusman said:

Wright 012 did exist at one time, but was used to test battery technology when original batteries were found to be troublesome. It is no longer around, and was apparently never accepted by RTC.

I downloaded the Altoona test report for the Wright RTV. The photo of the test vehicle had no markings (except for RTC colors), but the VIN of the test vehicle matches the VIN of 012. The dates of that test were 4/14/09 to 10/2/09 (if that's worth anything).

[andrethebusman]

800 out on 109 6/20. 1st one seen in several months. 317 seen Memorial Day weekend on 208, no sightings since. 978-997 show up occasionally still. 206 and 219 only 200's still among the living recently. Most 200's went to SA Recycling, in NLV, the preferred scrapper.

[andrethebusman]

800-829 one or another still appears from time to time in service. 806 most often. 316 seen as driver trainer 7/18. 206 seen in service recently. All three of these normally used as driver trainers. 830-844 all in service of late.

[andrethebusman]

18600 series XC40s coming online. Unsure how many yet. Should be the end of all the oddballs.

[andrethebusman]

Wright Streetcar on 109 Maryland Pkwy today. Since no fares collected, no reason not to use buses without fareboxes on residential routes. Normally these only on SDX which is pre-paid, but suspended indefinitely. This makes 60 more artics available.

[MVTArider]

On 4/23/2020 at 6:42 PM, andrethebusman said:

Wright Streetcar on 109 Maryland Pkwy today. Since no fares collected, no reason not to use buses without fareboxes on residential routes. Normally these only on SDX which is pre-paid, but suspended indefinitely. This makes 60 more artics available.

Those are probably ideal for operation during this as the operator is in their own compartment essentially. Thanks for sharing, very interesting to see the RTC's response to this.

[Tcmetro]

I dug through the board meeting materials from February and March and it looks like there's 20 XN40s and 40 Enviro 500s on order. 

Wikipedia claims there's 13 2007 and 40 2008 Enviro 500s in service, so I suppose these new orders will be their replacements. 

Wikipedia also has a link to an article stating RTC received a grant for 2 hydrogen fuel cell buses, which would be delivered in 2022.

https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/rtc-using-3-8m-federal-grant-for-2-hydrogen-powered-buses/

The same article says that RTC wants to transition to CNG by 2023. The Wrightbus fleet is hitting the 11-12 year mark now, so I would imagine that they are planning to replace those soon.

Also looks like the Wrightbuses got a new AC system recently. 

https://m.metro-magazine.com/news/732853/ccw-redesigns-hvac-system-for-rtc-of-southern-nevada-buses

[Tcmetro]

RTC is considering some service cuts, including the elimination of the Strip & Downtown Express line, which could mean the Wrightbuses will be made redundant. 

https://www.rtcsnv.com/ways-to-travel/schedules-maps/2020-transit-service-change/?utm_source=home_page_banner&utm_medium=rtcsnv&utm_campaign=service_change_2020

[andrethebusman]

RTC 200s, 900s all gone, should be on retired list.

Wrights were on general service during rear-door boarding. Now stored again. Still many doubles being run, though.

[andrethebusman]

17705 RIP this week. Engine fire

 

[Tcmetro]

https://www.rtcsnv.com/ways-to-travel/schedules-maps/2020-transit-service-change/?utm_source=shortURL&utm_medium=rtcsnv&utm_campaign=service_change_2020

 

RTC changes approved for Oct. 4th:

• Strip and Downtown Express eliminated
• Westcliff-Airport Express eliminated
• 104, Deuce, Centennial Express, Henderson-Downtown Express, Sahara Express rerouted
• New 401 to service downtown areas covered by Strip and Downtown Express
• 122 frequency decrease
• 207 and 209 eliminated weekend service