Operating costs
Running a light-rail train along Maryland Parkway would require about $11.5 million annually in operating and maintenance costs, according to estimates from the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada.
The primary funding source would come from $5.4 million in fares collected from a projected 16,100 riders expected to board trains by the time the light-rail line opens in 2025, a significant jump from the 9,000 daily riders currently boarding buses on Maryland Parkway.
Another $3.4 million would come from RTC subsidies. Transit officials said the remainder could be funded by a voterapproved sales tax increase or creation of a special property-assessment district for the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the rail line.
A bus rapid transit line would cost roughly $7.2 million annually to operate. About $4.5 million would be funded by fares based on a projected ridership of 13,300 daily passengers by the time the line opens in 2024, along with $2.7 million in subsidies allocated by the RTC.
Fares for both high-capacity transit options would be the same as for a bus ride, which is currently $2 for a single ride, RTC officials said. Although fares are evaluated annually, RTC officials said there are no immediate plans to increase the cost to board a bus in Southern Nevada. what the community desires,” RTC spokeswoman Angela Castro said. “Hypothetically, if our community decides that Maryland Parkway isn’t a priority or they don’t want this sales tax to go on the ballot, then we won’t go.”
Lessons from Nashville
Moving forward, RTC officials might want to learn a few lessons from their counterparts in Nashville, Tennessee, where voters in May overwhelmingly rejected a referendum that called for increases to four city taxes to fund a $5.4 billion transit infrastructure plan anchored by light rail.
Amanda Clelland, a spokeswoman for the Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority, did not return several phone calls and email messages inquiring why the measure lost.
An editorial in Nashville’s daily newspaper, The Tennessean, cited several factors in the measure’s defeat, including a failure by the city’s transit agency to address several concerns raised by residents.
To avoid Nashville’s fate, RTC General Manager Tina Quigley said her agency is committed to listening to issues voiced in Las Vegas.
“We heard repeatedly from peer communities and transportation leaders who have been successful that we must be inclusive and develop an ecosystem of transportation options,” Quigley said.
Those sentiments were echoed by former U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx during a visit to Las Vegas in April, when he spoke to about 160 people gathered for a transit symposium held at UNLV.
“It’s really important to get good, thorough, inclusive public input,” Foxx, who was transportation secretary from 2013 to 2017 under President Barack Obama, told the Review-journal prior to his speech.
“If you don’t do that part right and you ask voters to approve bonds, a referendum or whatever comes next, it becomes measurably harder,” Foxx said. “People don’t like it when they feel their voices aren’t being heard.”
Coming Tuesday: Can light rail spur economic development?
Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal.com or 702383-0336. Find @Amarroquin_lv on Twitter.