1.0 Introduction

1.1 Evaluation Overview

This document presents an evaluation of the Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) Las Vegas Boulevard North BRT project in Las Vegas, Nevada. The MAX project was developed by the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) and is part of the Citizen’s Area Transit (CAT) system first established in 1992.

This evaluation is based on Evaluation Guidelines for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Demonstration Projects published by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (VNTSC) for FTA in February 2002. While the Guidelines document establishes the methodology for evaluation, the specific elements that are the focus of the MAX BRT evaluation come from Characteristics of Bus Rapid Transit for Decision Making, published by the FTA in August 2004.¹ The CBRT document, by identifying and categorizing the major elements of BRT, their relationship to BRT system performance and the resulting system benefits, provides planners and decision makers the basic information and data requirements necessary to successfully undertake an evaluation.

This report follows a previous report prepared by Booz Allen Hamilton, Las Vegas Metropolitan Area Express Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Demonstration Project, FTA VA-26-7222-2005.1, that was completed in August 2005 and evaluated the first six months of MAX operations. That report was a first look at the early impacts of the MAX system. The present evaluation expands on the initial effort by using the additional data and operating experience and broadens several evaluation criteria to reflect the institutional experience and system impacts that have emerged with the additional experience that RTC has gained since it first began operations and management of MAX BRT in June 2004.

Specific information that is the basis for this evaluation includes the following:

• APC and AVL Data from RTC

• RTC’s MAX and Route 113 Riders Surveys in April and October 2005

• RTC’s 2004 and 2005 Annual Resident Surveys

• Interviews with RTC Staff

• Survey of MAX Drivers, see Attachment A

1.2 Max Evaluation Objectives

MAX BRT service was implemented with the goal of providing faster, more reliable and more accessible transit service in Northern Las Vegas. The overall objectives of this evaluation are to determine if RTC was successful in achieving this, and focus on the following:

Max evaluation objectives

• Determine extent and impact of improvements in travel times and system reliability

• Measure changes in ridership

• Evaluate impacts of new BRT technologies

• Assess role of marketing and brand development in MAX acceptance

• Investigate how MAX has affected the wider Las Vegas transportation network

• Determine the effect of MAX on land use and transit oriented development

• Evaluate overall safety and security of MAX

2.0 PROJECT ELEMENTS

Metropolitan Area Express or “MAX” is a new brand of express service operating on an arterial roadway. RTC is planning to use the brand in other corridors in Las Vegas. The MAX Las Vegas Boulevard North service includes each of the elements of a BRT system, as described in the CBRT for Decision Making document published by FTA in August 2004. Prior to beginning the evaluation, this section of the report provides a project and corridor description as well as a summary of each of the MAX BRT elements, presented on the following pages.