Transportation - VEGAS INC

New escalator makes it easier to get across Strip

A new escalator is running on the Las Vegas Strip at Harmon Avenue near the Miracle Mile Shops. It allows people to exit north onto the Strip, where they could previously only go south.

It’s now a little easier to get across the Strip with the opening of a new escalator at Harmon Avenue.

4 March 2013

By Ron Sylvester

May the best contractors win

Over the past three months, minority business organizations in California and Nevada have met in high-speed train diversity summits centered on the prospect of the $6.9 billion XpressWest train project planned between Las Vegas and Southern California. This week, a similar gathering pulls into Las Vegas, and local organizers are hoping it will be the best-attended summit of the series.

4 March 2013

By Richard N. Velotta

Passenger traffic dips at Las Vegas airport

In this photo provided by the Las Vegas News Bureau, British Airwaysi first flight from Londonis Gatwick Airport pulls into the gate waving the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes out of the cockpit windows after a traditional water cannon salute at McCarran International Airport on October 29, 2012.

Passenger traffic got off to a slow start at McCarran International Airport in January as airport officials reported a 1.6 percent dip for the first month of 2013. Clark County Aviation Department officials said that 3.12 million passengers used McCarran, with most of the drop-off in domestic traffic.

28 February 2013

By Richard N. Velotta

Cab company vows to continue taxi service despite planned driver strike

Taxis wait at "the pit" for fares at McCarran International Airport. At any time, there are about 2,000 cabs on Las Vegas streets.

Managers of Yellow-Checker-Star Transportation say they’re prepared to continue taxi service even if union drivers walk off the job early Sunday as expected.

28 February 2013

By VEGAS INC Staff

Hey governor, please allow us 15 miles of toll-free interstate down here

A free road for the north, a toll road for the south. Someone with a sharper wit than I came up with it, but the metaphor neatly encapsulates Southern Nevada’s raw deal compared with the rest of the state.

27 February 2013

By J. Patrick Coolican

To one cab company's chagrin, long-hauling pilot program was already approved

Taxicab Authority Police stop taxis at a long haul checkpoint near the entrance to the airport tunnel exiting McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas on Friday, June 8, 2012.

What some had expected to be a legal skirmish between Southern Nevada’s two largest taxicab groups fizzled Tuesday as the Nevada Taxicab Authority outlined details of a pilot program to test the RideIntegrity computerized regulatory system.

26 February 2013

By Richard N. Velotta

Taxicab Authority OKs extra cabs for Electric Daisy Carnival

The Nevada Taxicab Authority will allow cab companies to put additional cars on the road during June’s Electric Daisy Carnival, but not as many as they had asked for.

26 February 2013

By Richard N. Velotta

Bill would up speed limit to 85 mph in Nevada

Tom Stephens, director of the Nevada Department of Transportation, talks about the higher speed limits in Nevada during a news conference, Dec. 8, l995, in Las Vegas. Stephens predicted that higher speed limits would have no increase in speed-related highway deaths.

A bill was introduced Monday in the state Senate to raise Nevada’s speed limit to 85 mph on sections of major freeways.

25 February 2013

By Cy Ryan

Las Vegas cab company opposes pilot program to stop long-hauling

With the Nevada Taxicab Authority a day away from considering parameters of a pilot program for a GPS-based computer system designed to thwart taxi long-hauling, a battle is brewing between rival cab companies over whether the proposed pilot program is legal.

25 February 2013

By Richard N. Velotta

Explore taxi long-hauling data

Below is a list of all the violations issued to Southern Nevada taxi drivers in 2012 by the Nevada Taxicab Authority.

25 February 2013

Critics accuse taxicab officials of soft touch on long-haulers

The process to catch illegal long-haulers is simple. Enforcement officers park at a Strip resort and wait for cabs to come in. They note the dollar amount on the taxi meter, ask passengers where they came from and do a quick calculation.

25 February 2013

By Richard N. Velotta

'He could always make me smile': Slain taxi driver leaves void at Desert Cab

Cab drivers from Desert Cab tally their trip sheets Friday afternoon after coming in from their 12-hour shifts. Day shift drivers shown here were the closest colleagues to driver Michael Boldon, whose image appears on the video monitor on the wall.

The Desert Cab operations office is loud and busy at 4 in the afternoon. That's when cab drivers who have been picking up and dropping off passengers since 4 in the morning come in to tally their trip sheets while the night shift drivers prepare to go out in those returning cabs.

23 February 2013

By Richard N. Velotta

Spirit Airlines has fourth consecutive profitable year in 2012

A Spirit Airlines jet takes off from McCarran International Airport on Friday, Aug. 26, 2011.

Spirit Airlines, the fastest-growing air carrier at McCarran International Airport last year, reported its fourth straight profitable year and improved financial results in 2012, despite a fourth quarter hampered by cancellations resulting from Hurricane Sandy.

19 February 2013

By Richard N. Velotta

RTC approves controversial bus contracts

Members of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada approved two controversial bus operations and maintenance contracts today, as more than 100 union members jeered and applauded through more than two hours of testimony and debate.

14 February 2013

By Richard N. Velotta

RTC looking for ways to make bus stops safer

The Regional Transportation Commission of Clark County received a report with a list of strategies to make bus stops safer for people waiting at the stops.