LAS VEGAS — Even as the heat exceeds 105 degrees, bar porter Arnold Arias rides his bicycle to work on the Las Vegas Strip as a means of saving at the pump, his tires hugging the shade to avoid the heat.
Arias has owned the same 1995 Toyota Celica for more than a decade. But with the rising cost of everything from gas prices to insurance premiums, he now wonders whether it’s time to sell it.
“Now that things have gone up, people [like me] have to consider whether driving is worth it,” he told Straight Arrow. “I didn’t think that would happen.”
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“As groceries, gas and rent rise through the roof with no end in sight, it gets harder for folks to get around,” said Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of Culinary Workers Union Local 226.
Although he strongly supports public transit, Pappageorge said he is unsure whether the RTC will be a priority in the next legislative session. Elected officials seem more interested in private-public transit investments like Elon Musk’s Boring Company, he said. The Boring Company developed the Vegas Loop, an underground tunnel network that transports passengers in Tesla vehicles beneath portions of the Las Vegas Strip and Convention Center. The project emerged from Musk’s earlier Hyperloop vision, which promised high-speed travel through vacuum-sealed tubes but has largely failed to materialize as a commercial transportation system.
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“One of our [union] members is 58 years old and she is saying they have to use a scooter to save money on gas and car insurance,” Pappageorge told Straight Arrow. “They are being left behind and the discussion of infrastructure needs to include how to move workers.”
Arias told Straight Arrow he is driving less often these days, and has considered returning to RTC buses, which he used before purchasing a vehicle.
Although he lives close to the Strip for work, Arias said route cuts could put those who take long car commutes at risk.
“You’re gambling on buses stopping on time, which they often don’t do. And if there are even less routes, you have to plan around it and it will get worse,” said Arias, who remembers a three-hour journey to a doctor’s office that would have been 25 minutes by car. “We need good, reliable public transportation. If there are cuts to routes, it’s going to hurt getting around and it’s hard to get around as it is.”