NV: Feeling safer on Las Vegas buses? RTC makes big investment in security

The Regional Transportation Commission will spend $26 million this year on its latest security contract to increase safety measures on its Las Vegas Valley transit line.

The transit agency’s increased security budget will allow the expansion of existing measures and the addition of new initiatives aimed at making the RTC’s bus service safer for riders and operators alike. The budget marks a significant increase from past years. The 2021 security contract, for instance, was $10.2 million.

RTC CEO MJ Maynard noted that what’s happening with public transit in the valley is a microcosm of what’s taking place in many U.S. cities, with the public transit agencies often dealing with the unhoused populations, as well as individuals with mental illness and drug addiction.

“If that is happening in the community, it’s going to happen on public transit,” Maynard said.

The RTC has used a combination of added security officers and technology to boost security onboard buses and at transit centers valleywide, Maynard said.

Its safety efforts have not gone unnoticed: The RTC recently received the gold award from the American Public Transportation Association.

Added officers

The RTC, last year, increased the number of security officers throughout its fixed-route system from 247 to 300. All security officers on buses, in vehicle patrols and at transit centers are now armed. The officers also wear highly visible uniforms to make their presence known, with the goal of helping to deter incidents.

Security officers use cellular tracking for real-time incident reporting and tracking of where each officer is on the system. All officers also wear body cameras that allow for live look-ins when assistance is needed during incident investigations.

“We spent some money to upgrade our security team,” Maynard said. “We can open up a map in real time and know where all the officers are, where all the officers’ vehicles are and deploy them as needed.”

The RTC was the first transit agency in the country to outfit drivers with a nano-button that, when pressed, sends an alert to security, and an officer is then dispatched to their location, which is tracked via GPS.

“It’s the size of a pager and if anything happens, they can press that button and our security department and our bus operations center are notified immediately and we can respond,” Maynard said.

The patrol quadrants where security guards are assigned have been reduced in size so that officers have less area to cover, which can lead to quicker incident response times.

Removals of disruptive passengers from the RTC fixed-route system have increased by 1.3 percent between 2023 and 2024, with the transit agency expecting that number to continue rising, along with the increased security measures.

Assaults on passengers and operators combined decreased last year, going from 199 in 2023 to 125 in 2024. Passenger-on-passenger assaults dropped year-over-year from 166 to 90 (46 percent decrease) and passenger-on-operator assaults fell by 21 percent, going from 33 to 26.

Technology implementation

Last year, the RTC became the first transit system in the United States to implement an artificial intelligence-driven technology weapons detection system in all of its transit centers. ZeroEyes, owned by former military and police officers, uses AI technology designed to detect if someone is brandishing a firearm in a threatening manner at RTC’s facilities. The use of the technology led to the RTC receiving an innovation award last year from the American Public Transportation Association and a Smart 20 award at this year’s Smart Cities Connect Conference.

Pleased with the results of the AI technology, the RTC will look to further implement it in other parts of its operations, Maynard said.

“Because we’re not afraid to go after technology that has the potential to improve safety,” Maynard said. “We’ve got that in place in all of our transit facilities. … our next step is going to be looking at how we can implement that technology on board vehicles. We’ve found it (ZeroEyes) to be very successful.”

Pedestrian detection

The safety of those on board or in transit centers isn’t the only concern for the RTC. Vulnerable road users that encounter buses on the road are also top of mind. Looking to curb the instances of bus-pedestrian collisions, the RTC plans to implement a pedestrian-collision avoidance system on all buses over the next few months, Maynard said.

“The bus industry is probably the last to come to the table with what you find in cars right now,” Maynard said. “When you get a visual and audio signal when there is a pedestrian or car on the side of your vehicle or approaching.”

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