LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Hope, healing, and a little fun.
Every day at the Nevada Community Enrichment Program, also known as NCEP, is about rehab, recovery and joy. Patients here are survivors of strokes, brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. Many can't drive and they depend on RTC Paratransit.
One of those patients is Ernest Lindsey, who goes to NCEP daily, relearning how to swallow, speak and walk after three strokes. His sister Valerie Banister is a nurse and his advocate. Lately, she tells me that she feels like his rescuer. In one month, there were five occasions where Paratransit didn't show.
WATCH PART 3: Riders share their concerns as Darcy Spears works to get answers
"When you have to call out from work or not go to work," I questioned.
"I don't make any money," Banister told me. "I don't think they understand or took into consideration the impact that this new software would have not just on the rider but also on their family, on the people that care for them."
Lindsey isn't alone. Hundreds have been left waiting for hours or abandoned completely since the RTC's new app, developed by RideCo, launched in March.
"A word to kind of describe the experience," Banister said. "Nightmare."
New data we obtained from the RTC details more than 1,700 complaints. Delays spiked the week of March 8, when 637 riders had to wait more than an hour. People missed dialysis treatments, doctor appointments and some even faced being fired.
"We had weeks of complete disarray because our patients could not get to us," NCEP director Julie Peterson told me.
WATCH PART 1: Paratransit riders voice concerns with delays across the valley
NCEP staff scrambled to fill the gap.
"We were having to find a way to pay staff overtime every morning and every night," Peterson explained. "We were here until 6:30 and seven o'clock at night, when the day for some of these individuals should end at four o'clock, caring for persons who were left behind. It's been a difficult time. It's definitely put a financial strain on our organization."
Peterson wrote to RTC. After our first story, supervisors appeared on site as RideCo continued ironing out the app.
"They have really streamlined a lot of the things that were going on and they've fixed them," she said.
The RTC Board stayed silent for our first report, declining on-camera interviews. We emailed every board member. Finally, Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones, RTC board chair, responded.
"I feel like we, as a board, have really been attentive to the concerns that have been raised, and our senior management team have really been on it," Jones told me. "We've held RideCo accountable."
"How," I asked. "How have they been held accountable?"
"They haven't been paid since it started," he said.
WATCH PART 2: RTC, RideCo officials weigh in on paratransit issues
Jones says the board demanded dramatic improvements and RTC April data shows delays are dropping.
"Why did it get to launch when it wasn't ready?" I asked.
"Any time you launch something new, you don't quite know exactly how it's going to roll out," Jones said. "RideCo could have done a much better job in their rollout. They've acknowledged that it was a problem."
"Did they misrepresent their capabilities?" I asked.
"I don't know whether they misrepresented their capability, but certainly, the rollout was imperfect," Jones said. I'm not going to pay them until they get the job done."
Jones says he remains cautiously optimistic, expecting a big update from RideCo's CEO at Thursday's RTC board meeting.