RTC revenue drops
Agency’s ‘golden goose’ of Strip ridership on a five-year decline
Revenue derived from bus ridership on the Strip continues to decline with the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada seeing a 29 percent drop over the past five years.
If the trend continues at its current rate, some bus routes could be eliminated or the frequency of service could be reduced within the next four years, said RTC officials, who are exploring new ways to draw riders on the Strip.
Revenue generated by Las Vegas Boulevard bus ridership, once the cash cow for the RTC, has fallen from $24 million in fiscal year 2015 to $16.9 million in fiscal year 2019. Revenue fell 8.8 percent between fiscal years 2018 and ‘The
Strip has been our golden goose. It has produced the largest amount of revenue for the least amount of service hours operated.’ 2019 alone. In the same time frame, ridership dipped from 12 million to 11.3 million.
The drop in revenue for the RTC has occurred as the popularity of ride hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft has surged.
Fixed route ridership was up 1 percent in fiscal year 2019 with 64.4 million riders, of which 53.1 million were from general market (outside of the Strip) ridership.
Despite the small spike in ridership, revenue was down 0.2 percent, drawing $64.4 million in fiscal year 2019, about a $200,000 drop from last fiscal year’s $64.6 million. That could be attributed to declining Strip revenue, according to Tina Quigley, CEO of the RTC.
“The Strip has been our golden goose,” Quigley said. “It has produced the largest amount of revenue for the least amount of service hours operated. Losing that revenue has had an impact on the overall system, even though residential routes have increased.”
Revenue tied to general market ridership was up
3.3 percent in fiscal year 2019, jumping to $47.6 million from $46.1 million the year prior.