The last few years have brought major change to the Truckee Meadows region, impacting every aspect of life – including public transportation. To better serve our community, Washoe County needs a transportation network that reflects the new ways we live, work, shop, travel and play.

RTC’s 2023-2027 TOPS is the tool to get us where we need to go. TOPS will look at all facets of transportation in our region and make recommendations for how to optimize and improve them.  

The goal of TOPS is to improve mobility and enhance quality of life in the Washoe County metropolitan area. TOPS will recommend strategies for:

• Retaining current transit riders and attracting new ones
• Improving customer service
• Improving and combining technology
• Making RTC’s operations financially sustainable

COMMUNITY FEEDBACK

In December and January, RTC asked for feedback on the bus system… and you responded! More than 1,000 people took our online survey and many more gave comments at community presentations. 

Here are the top five priorities we heard:

1. Make buses run more often
2. Make buses run on time/more reliable
3. Make buses run earlier in the morning
4. Make buses run later in the evening
5. Straighten bus routes for faster travel times

At the same time, the RTC Board gave the following direction:

1. Evaluate ongoing ridership and workforce trends to guide the development of new transit services
2. Review the provision of RTC Ride services to ensure that the vehicle size and vehicle type match the demand for the service
3. Create additional microtransit services including areas of poorly performing fixed routes or suburban areas where no transit service exists
4. Leverage technology to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness which improves the customer experience by having a single application for both trip planning and payment

COMMENT ON PROPOSED BUS SERVICE CHANGES

Based on this feedback, the TOPS study is recommending a suite of changes and improvements to the public transit system and we’d like to know what you think.

We’re recommending changes to 21 RTC bus routes: 2, 3CC, 3CL, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 21, 25, 26, 54, and Somersett/Verdi FlexRIDE.

We’re proposing to add two new routes by discontinuing three routes and adding two new FlexRIDE zones in Western Reno and South Meadows – Damonte Ranch.

VIEW ALL THE PROPOSED CHANGES

Project Schedule

• Community Survey (Dec. 2021 – Jan. 2022)
• RTC Board Update (March 2021)
• Public Review of Draft TOPS Recommendation (April-May 2022)
• Board Approval of Final TOPS Recommendation (May 2022)

RTC Project Manager
Michael Dulude
Senior Technical Transit Operations Planner
(775) 335-1904
mdulude@rtcwashoe.com