Las Vegas combines transit, bike-share payment into one app

Las Vegas riders will now be able to access bus and bike sharing information from the same app, the developer, Transit app, announced Thursday.

The CEO of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada claimed in a press release to be the first to integrate its transit and bike share payment systems into one app. The RTC already used the transit app for its bus systems in Las Vegas and the surrounding area but is now expanding its functionality.

Users could previously see routes and bus crowding, but integrating the RTC’s bike share system now allows riders to locate and pay for one of 150 bikes to get to a final destination.

RTC transit served more than 56 million passengers in the greater Las Vegas valley in fiscal year 2020, according to the system’s website.

Ridership for the bike share system, launched in 2016, ramped up when the pandemic hit in 2020, with public transit publication MassTransit reporting a 297% increase from the previous year. The RTC switched its bike share system completely to mobile payments in October of 2020, according to KSNV.

Integrating bike-share systems is a practice recommended by the American Public Transportation Association. By providing access to bike-share docks, transit systems can bridge the gap between home or work and the transit system. Rentable electric scooters, like those from Bird or Lime, are also often proposed for “final mile” travel, but bike-share and scooter systems are usually accessed through standalone apps run by independent companies.

The transit app launched for southern Nevada’s RTC system’s buses in January 2020. Since then, riders paid for 65,000 trips, according to the press release, and 20% of riders use the app every day. There are 150 bikes and 21 systems on the RTC’s bike share.

The company, which is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, claims business in more than 300 cities around the world, including 30 cities where riders can use the app to pay transit fare.