Panel: Time to invest in Vegas transportation

By RICHARD N. VELOTTA LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

10 years ago

The Las Vegas Monorail as seen Wednesday, May 29, 2014, from the 15th floor of MGM Grand hotel-casino. The route of the monorail and its potential to transport workers on the Las Vegas Strip was one of the topics of discussion Wednesday at a panel discussion of transportation infrastructure. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

The Las Vegas Monorail arrives at the Harrah’s/The Quad stop in Las Vegas on Monday, May 19, 2014. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Former Mayor Oscar Goodman, left, jokes with Laura and Steve Riley, at right, after announcing the couple as the 60th millionth riders on the Las Vegas Monorail Thursday, April 17, 2014 at the Harrah’s/The Quad station. The monorail’s route was a topic of discussion at a panel discussion about transportation in Las Vegas on Wednesday. (Samantha Clemens/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Nigel Frost, left, Taylor Frost, second from left, Michelle Sutton, third from left, and Becky Sutton, right, ride the Las Vegas Monorail while visiting from New Zealand on Thursday, April 17, 2014. (Samantha Clemens/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

The Las Vegas Monorail heads south towards the Harrah’s/The Quad stop in Las Vegas on Monday, May 19, 2014. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

An RTC Transit bus cruises past the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health at the intersection of Grand Central Parkway and Bonneville on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013. Transportation union workers rallied in downtown Las Vegas Tuesday, encouraging people riding buses to call or write lawmakers to ask for more funding for public transit. (Mark Damon/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

It was clear from the tone of some of the questions and answers in a panel at Wednesday’s Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance breakfast meeting that Southern Nevada’s transportation issues are on track to get more political.

Although the moderator and three panelists in a transportation discussion agreed the region should invest in local transportation infrastructure as the economy rebounds, they were less committal about two big local transportation issues — the fate of the Las Vegas Monorail and how to address the potential arrival of Uber and similar ride-sharing technologies.

There may be no answers to the tough questions or the easy ones until the middle of 2015 as the Regional Transportation Commission awaits the completion of the so-called Transportation Business Investment Plan, a $2.7 million undertaking by Michael Gallis, principal of Charlotte, N.C.-based Michael Gallis &Associates.

Gallis won the contract earlier this year to develop the plan and in May said it would take 12 to 18 months to complete the study, which will outline the best ideas to improve economic development through better transportation management.

The transportation element is a focal point of the proposed Las Vegas Global Business District, a $2.5 billion makeover for the Las Vegas Convention Center. Representatives of the taxi industry, limousine, bus and shuttle companies, the Las Vegas Monorail, McCarran International Airport, the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, have offered their perspectives of the best way to use smart transportation to build the economy.

That could mean introducing light rail to the valley, modifying or adding to the monorail route and exploring new concepts such as Uber’s ride-sharing app.

Panelists took cautious stances on sensitive topics. Global Business Alliance CEO Tom Skancke said the monorail system’s route could be reconfigured and focused on transporting thousands of Strip employees to their work places from portals on the Strip’s north and south ends.

Skancke, who emphasized that his comments were his and not his organization’s, added that a link to the airport could be a part of that transition, but everything is on hold until the Gallis transportation study is completed.

Regional Transportation Commission Engineering Director David Swallow said Uber and other ride-sharing companies are popular with millennials and that local taxi and limousine companies have begun efforts to bring similar smartphone applications to state transportation regulators for consideration.

“The thing about people today is that they’re connected,” Swallow said. “One of the things you’re looking at is getting away from the old model and moving on from having to stand and wait for a bus and instead, scheduling a ride, knowing when it’s going to get there and tracking it in real time.”

Critics within the taxi industry say ride-sharing companies are underinsured and haven’t had their vehicles inspected, charges Uber officials have denied.

Some transportation observers have said the taxi industry effectively blocks Uber’s entrance to the market with its powerful lobbying arm. Also, there are efforts by Integrity Vehicle Solutions, a technology spinoff of Frias Transportation Management, to present its own app, called Ride Genie, to the Nevada Transportation Authority on Friday.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow him on Twitter @RickVelotta.