To help the community, particularly senior citizens, during the COVID-19 crisis, theRegional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada has expanded service on its Silver STAR routes throughout the valley and partnered with community food bank Three Square to deliver groceries to homebound individuals.
“During this time, it’s especially important that we assist the vulnerable citizens of our community and try to find ways to help them access essential services,” said MJ Maynard, RTC Chief Executive Officer. “While transit ridership has decreased system-wide and we have had to scale back the level of service, we identified other ways to use our existing resources to help members of the community who need service most.”
The RTC has long offered 12 Silver STAR looped routes as a specialty service to connect senior living communities and various shopping areas, offering senior citizens convenient access to grocery stores, banks and more. The RTC has added more pick up locations and earlier service hours to each of these routes to help individuals take advantage of stores offering dedicated hours to senior citizens and those with underlying medical issues. A new temporary route in the northeast valley has also been added. Every Silver STAR vehicle can accommodate up to two wheelchairs at a time.
Each Silver STAR route has unique days, times and stops. To find information about the updated schedules, visit rtcsnv.com/coronavirus.
Additionally, the RTC is partnering with community food bank Three Square to deliver groceries to homebound seniors. Due to lower trip demand from paratransit clients, the RTC can deploy existing paratransit drivers and vehicles to help Three Square with its Senior Hunger Program. For more information about the program, contact Three Square at 702-765-4030 or via email at seniorhunger@threesquare.org.
Find all of the latest updates related to the transportation agency’s COVID-19 response at rtcsnv.com/coronavirus/.
