The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) has made some big changes to its bus service in recent months.
Late last year, the RTC released a mobile app which allows riders to find bus stops, track buses in real time, and purchase transit passes right from their smartphones.
The app was designed to make RTC buses as convenient and accessible as possible.
Now, the RTC has made another upgrade that promises to add yet another level of convenience to its bus fleet: free Wi-Fi service.
In early February, RTC General Manager Tina Quigley announced that the transit commission had invested $504,487 in an effort to outfit all 400 of its buses with free wireless Internet.
Now, commuters can check emails, watch videos and more on their daily bus rides without having to rely on their own data plans. The Wi-Fi networks will also allow the RTC to provide more accurate information on its new mobile app.
“This helps us to both provide a value-added service for our customers in today’s connected world and more accurately tracks the vehicle locations so we can provide real-time information,” said Quigley in a statement to the RTC board of directors.
Whether or not the new Wi-Fi networks will increase ridership rates on RTC buses remains to be seen. In any case, the RTC appears intent on providing added incentives for people to use its bus service in the future.
Hopefully that will lead to an overall improvement in the quality of service that makes the transit service in Las Vegas better and more reliable than ever.