Las Vegas express bus routes among the best in the United States, the report

MATTHEW MINARD/Las Vegas Sun/Sun file photo of the new vehicle hits Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) rapid transit system in the streets after an Unveiling ceremony at 3258 North Las Vegas Boulevard on Wednesday, 30 June 2004. The vehicle, provided by the regional transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, offers commuters a new and larger form of public transport. Every vehicle, MAX can transport up to 120 passengers and uses an advanced optical guidance that precisely target the near each MAX station. By Kyle Hansen (contact) Friday, may 27, 2011 | at 2: 03

Las Vegas's new bus rapid transit lines were identified as one of the best in the country in a report released Thursday, but the United States has a long way to go to catch up with some other countries.

The report "regain global leadership in Bus Rapid Transit" by the Institute for transportation and development policy, "said Cleveland, Eugene, ore., Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Las Vegas best bus rapid transit, or BRT, system in the nation.

In the report, but the United States is far behind other Nations in building faster bus systems and must do more to catch.

"These systems are poised to redefine how Americans see and use buses, critical at a time when increasingly scarce transport funding," said Walter Hook, Executive Director of the Institute and one of the report's authors, in a statement.

-But based on what we have seen in our work in cities around the world, we believe that there is still more that can be done, "he said. "To get at least a truly world-class BRT system built in the United States could inspire cities around the country to reconsider how they use the buses in the fight against growing congestion and rising fuel prices."

The regional transportation Commission of Southern Nevada has spent millions of dollars, much of the federal stimulus money to build four express bus routes and have more under construction. The report considered two main features of the service now, the MAX Las Vegas Boulevard North, which opened in 2004, and the Strip and Downtown Express line, which began service last year.

The idea of the report was to establish a system of scores to rank system bus, similar to how Green Building Council uses a score to determine its LEED awards for environmentally friendly buildings.

The result is a caption that gives each bus system a score from 0 to 100. A score of 85-100 is a gold designation, 70-84 is silver, 50-69 is bronze and slightly less than 49 is not a bus rapid transit.

Las Vegas made 50 scale, to get a bronze designation, but barely passes the requirements for bus rapid transit.

None of the other bus rapid transit lines in the nation got a silver or gold description, either. Cleveland got a score of 63, Eugene was a 61, Los Angeles got a 61 and Pittsburgh scored 57.

Cities in other countries do much better in the report, with some scores as high as 93 when the same ranking system is used.

The report praises the RTC systems but say Strip and Downtown Express suffers from congestion and slow service at the main part of the route, where there is no dedicated bus-only k?rf?lt.

-Line SDX most significant shortcomings are that special infrastructure does not continue on the main strip, largely because the casino owners did not want to make it easier or more attractive to their customers leave their casinos "in the report.

"The result is that in the most congested and popular part of Las Vegas, SDX behave more or less as a normal bus route incur countless delays," continues. "Yet the SDX line is a positive example for all accommodation in Las Vegas that GRT could provide high-quality transit at a lower cost than rail, and it is seen as a political and operational success."

Line MAX, who was the first rapid transit line in the State, also benefited from some "factual luck" which helped to pave the way for route Strip, according to the report.

"The city's other major transit investments, a monorail, opened late, millions of dollars over budget, and with significant technical issues," it says. The result is that the MAX saw particularly good and RTC was eventually able to expand with Strip and Downtown Express, which are in direct competition with the monorail, the report says.

In addition, the BRT success in Las Vegas quieted most of push to talk, and build a light rail train in Las Vegas, which is much more expensive, according to the report.

The report said sub-Saharan Africa Express line under construction in Las Vegas not likely qualifies as a true bus rapid transit line because it will use the lanes along the right hand curb, by the way, instead of in the middle of the street.

"Enlargement remains a positive sign that BRT is an accepted mass transit in Las Vegas," the report.