Good news for the bus types

No, RTC did not add a route to the M, and if you're headed to Railroad Pass, it's still once an hour, but there are some changes to the routes that make it easier to reach some of the outlier casinos:

The 217 (Silverton; Fiesta Henderson) now runs every 30 minutes on weekdays instead of once an hour.

The 120 has been moved so it passes pretty much right in front of both the Suncoast and Rampart casinos (well, it stops along the street, which appears to be about 1/8 of a mile from each casino, but both casinos do have stops in both directions), and it runs every 30 minutes. (The 207/209 (west 207 buses turn into east 209 buses, and west 209 buses turn into east 207 buses) also passes by these two casinos, but they run hourly.)

The 212 (Sunset Station, and I think Wildfire as well) now extends west out to, and past, Las Vegas Boulevard (all the way out to Fort Apache & Warm Springs), and the SDX (and Deuce, in the hours when it goes south of Mandalay Bay) will have a stop there to transfer to/from it.

Also, for you auto racing fans that don't like driving to the speedway, there will be special services (similar to the 601 and 602 used for events at Sam Boyd Stadium) that serve the speedway for events that warrant it; 603 will run to/from the Nellis AFB area, and 604 will run from downtown.

Las Vegas has great bus service.

I see that buses are used widely by tourists on the strip, and between the strip and downtown, but do the locals use it a whole lot otherwise?

Buses are underutilized in many western cities, due to wide open spaces and preference for cars.

Where do I catch the Railroad Pass bus and what time does it run until?

Quote: Mission146

Where do I catch the Railroad Pass bus and what time does it run until?

Railroad Pass is served by the HDX (Henderson/Downtown Express).
It starts at the downtown transit center (4th and Garces, something like six blocks south of Fremont), goes north on 4th, right on Stewart, then onto I-515, gets off the freeway to stop at Sunset Station, gets back on, gets off at Lake Mead Parkway, heads east (stopping at Fiesta Henderson), then right on Water (stopping at Joker's Wild), left on Basic, right on Boulder Highway, right on Nevada State Drive (stopping at Nevada State College), back onto US-93 via Paradise Hills and Dawson, then the next stop is Railroad Pass.

The bus runs about once an hour, seven days a week, and takes just under an hour to get from Fremont Street to Railroad Pass. The last southbound bus leaves about 10 PM, but the last northbound bus that goes back downtown leaves around 9:30 PM for some reason.

Links to the Transit Guide and Bus Map

Quote: MrV

I see that buses are used widely by tourists on the strip, and between the strip and downtown, but do the locals use it a whole lot otherwise?

Buses are underutilized in many western cities, due to wide open spaces and preference for cars.

One guy I know used the bus a lot until he got a car recently. He had no trouble getting from his house to many casinos.

I was a public transportation guy for most of my adult life, including my first two years here in Vegas. Living in Center City, Philadelphia, before relocating to Vegas I was a public transportation guy (buses, trains, subway). Even commuting 3-4 times a week to Atlantic City for the first 5+ years of my BJ career.

When I moved to Vegas, I moved to a condo a block off the strip so I could walk to many games and still took the bus all over town. It didn't take long to discover there wasn't all that much worth playing on the strip and I was busing and riding my bike all over town to play the better games.

There were a couple problems with that. One, neither of these modes of transportation works that well for a professional player, even one who plays moderate stakes as I do, with the carrying of funds that is a necessity. Second, Vegas really isn't very bike friendly as far as a mode of transportation. There are some nice bike trails (Mike has done some articles on this subject) and settings but riding on the streets of Vegas to get to places....That's dangerous. In addition, Vegas is spread out, like many of the western bigger cities, and unlike many cities back east just isn't bike friendly.

So I eventually broke down and bought a car. Ironically several months later, I won a car at a casino. (drawing, not shades of Vegas Vacation). An automobile works a lot better for a professional AP, especially with many of the better BJ games spread out all over town away from the strip. :)

But... as teddys said, the public bus system in Vegas is real good compared to other places, excluding the strip, which is slow and crowded. The local buses run frequently and are very punctual for public transportation. The price for both single rides and monthly passes are very reasonable compared to other cities.

Quote: ThatDonGuy

No, RTC did not add a route to the M, and if you're headed to Railroad Pass, it's still once an hour, but there are some changes to the routes that make it easier to reach some of the outlier casinos:

The M situation is interesting. When I was using RTC, The M and rampart were the two major casinos that were not serviced by RTC. Rampart, you could get close enough to walk. The M has a shuttle from fashion Show Mall, but was unaccessable by RTC and I guess still is. The closest you could get was SouthPoint on the 117. From SouthPoint, you can see M resort down the road and it doesn't look at that far, but it is a 3 mile walk (I walked probably a dozen times) and there are no sidewalks and very little shoulder of the road. It is just a straight section of road that cars are whizzing by you.

The 117 originating at the South Strip Transfer terminal travels down LVB to SouthPoint and then turns east for several miles (never took it past SouthPoint). It runs every half hour and with the growth of the area around the M resort, I half expected some sort of service extension down to M resort. Even if they made every other trip go south from SouthPoint instead of east, that would work. Like you DonGuy, I am a little surprised.

The M is the only casino you cannot get to by bus. It must suck for some of their workers. (I don't know why I think that -- some of their players probably don't have cars either).

In my town, if you take the bus it generally means you are dirt poor with no car. It's generally an unpleasant ride.

ThatDonGuy,

Much longer answer than I deserved for something I could have looked up myself, thanks!

I'm definitely going to check out RP next trip, would have already, but I didn't want to rent a car just to go there.

Quote: ThatDonGuy

No, RTC did not add a route to the M

...but they're getting closer; there's a new route opening in November that connects the southern transit center to GVR without requiring a bus change (and having to guess at which stop the next southbound 111 will stop) that goes by St. Rose & Maryland. However, that's still three miles from The M.