LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Regional Transportation Commission says it will be short $118 million per year in transit funds starting in 2029, and cuts to bus routes and a popular game-day express program could happen if more money isn't found.
Also in jeopardy: Rides for 4,500 people who use the agency's paratransit system.
WATCH| Steve Sebelius talks to an RTC bus rider about how potential cuts to transit system could affect riders
"We have not invested in transit in over 20 years, and we look very different," said M.J. Maynard-Carey, the CEO of the commission. "The demand has increased, certainly the costs have increased. ... But it's that lack of investment that has really brought us to where we are today."
The modern Las Vegas bus system was born in 1990, with a one-quarter percentage point sales tax. Another bump was added in 2002, and today, 3/8th of 1% of Clark County sales taxes are dedicated to transit systems, Maynard-Carey said.
But that money has not kept pace with the valley's growth, and the RTC finds itself mulling a cut to about 42% of its bus routes. Also on the chopping block: three of the five "Game Day Express" bus routes that ferry fans to Raiders and Golden Knights games.
Even more concerning: The fact that about 80% of riders use the bus to get to and from work.
"What we do is connect the people in this community, where they live, work and play, and more importantly, we're part of the economy, moving employees, and connecting them to employers," she said.
The RTC also operates paratransit services for disabled people.
Maynard-Carey and the RTC's Deputy CEO, Angela Castro, last week made the plight clear to members of the Legislature's joint Growth and Infrastructure Committee.
It's part of a strategy to build support for funding the future of the system, perhaps by getting funds directly from the state. (Nevada is one of three states — the others are Hawai'i and Alabama — that do not support transit from state-level appropriations.)
Another alternative: Increasing the sales tax to cover the shortfall, an option that may be harder to achieve. Voters in Henderson in 2024 rejected measures to raise money for city firefighters and libraries, for example.
"We work on behalf of the community, and so our job between now and 2028 is to get out there and engage the community, talk to the community, understand what it is they'd like to support or not, and go from there," Maynard-Carey said. "But this is, again, going to take a collective effort for us to solve our transit funding issue."
"I think most folks, even those that never take public transit, understand and see the value of public transit," she added. "But it's going to be up to the community, be up to our stakeholders. It's literally going to take a village to solve for the problem, because moving people, keeping our community connected, ensuring that we're connecting the economy, that matters."
The RTC — which is responsible for transportation planning, road construction and maintenance, and transit — got a boost in funding during the 2025 session, when a provision to index fuel taxes to inflation was extended.
But under the Nevada Constitution, car registration fees and gas taxes can only be used for road maintenance, not for transit systems.
The RTC has also reviewed its budgets internally, and some staff took pay cuts during down times, such as the pandemic, in order to maintain services. "We understand it's our job, if we're going to go out to the public and talk about funding and funding solutions, we have to make sure that our house is in order," Maynard-Carey said.
And she denied the proposed cuts were designed to induce voters to support any proposed sales tax. She said reviewing the potential bus routes that would be reduced was a difficult process, especially when it came to the 4,500 paratransit riders who would suddenly be outside the RTC's truncated service area.
"I think it's all critical," she said, "I mean, again, it's part of the economy. We move the economy. Public transit moves the economy. So whether we're getting folks to work or we're getting tourists and locals to a game to enjoy and spend money, it really is this ecosystem of mobility. I don't know if you would bifurcate and say one is more important than the other."
RTC officials are planning scores of community meetings around the valley to inform the public about the shortfall, potential cuts and proposed solutions. They will take information from those meetings forward to the 2027 Legislature to discuss the issue with state lawmakers.
