Courtesy
While transit ridership trends across the country fluctuate depending on accessibility, economic shifts, and broader trends, technology and sustainability investments have helped push the industry forward. Here in Washoe County, fixed-route service continues to prioritize reliability, safety and accessibility, but the true operators of our recent success hasn’t been technology. It’s been people.
For 32 consecutive months, the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County and Keolis, RTC’s operating partner for fixed-route services, have seen consistent ridership growth across the region. That kind of success happens as a result of focused efforts.
While our partnership has always been grounded in a shared vision of safe and reliable service, supported by communications, recent years have brought a deeper alignment through mutual support, operational transparency, and responsiveness to community needs. Keolis provides field-level insight on vehicle performance, safety trends, and training needs; RTC responds quickly to strengthen policies and support system wide performance. When rider feedback or data highlights an opportunity, such as demand for more University of Nevada, Reno service or reliability improvements, RTC brings it forward and Keolis helps implement change.
That collaborative approach is paying off. February 2025 alone saw more than 449,000 recorded fixed-route rides (up 7.8% year over year), with daily ridership averaging 16,707 (a 9.2% increase). We were able to complete an average of 22.1 rides per hour (an 11.3% gain) even with strategically re-allocated resources that now meet the needs of more passengers. Total ridership over the past 12 months topped 5.68 million, up more than 10% from the year prior.
Our people-first partnership has made it easier for the community to choose public transit with confidence. Whether motivated by affordability, sustainability, or avoiding traffic, riders know they can count on a safe and dependable experience.
While the specifics of public transportation may not apply to every industry, prioritizing key partnerships can be beneficial for businesses in any industry to enhance collaboration and trust and, ultimately, return on investments.
Where We’ve Doubled Down:
Collaborating Around Regional Needs
Service near the University of Nevada, Reno continues to see strong demand, with Ed-Pass rides rising 8.3% year over year. Adjustments around class schedules and student hubs have helped boost both retention and first-time ridership.
Keeping Growth in Mind
With Washoe County’s population growing and infill development increasing density along key corridors, our planning and service models have evolved to meet demand where it’s rising fastest. RTC’s Transportation Optimization Plan Strategies planning identifies underserved populations and develops tactics to engage the community and increase ridership.
Further, Keolis information on ridership and passenger trends help to further augment ridership data that highlights not only where services can be increased but also what tweaks might improve efficiencies.
Staying Ahead of the Curve
Staying relevant isn’t solely about adopting new technologies or making purchases. Keolis leadership emphasizes comprehensive training programs for its team, encompassing areas such as human trafficking awareness, effective communication with passengers of varying abilities, and the latest practices in preparedness and defensive driving. RTC and Keolis have coordinated meetings with driving staff so operators know they have clear communication pathways about their concerns with route configuration. This has also given RTC the opportunity to provide feedback to operators about how best to work together. These meetings have been conducted with operations in a specific forum and also as a broader town hall wherein any team member could attend, including shop personnel and frontline supervisors.
While it’s important for us to further improve our partnership, we also recognize our successes translate into broader wins for the community. Not only can more riders leverage cost savings and reliable commutes, employers benefit when transit-dependent workers can get to jobs on time. Similarly, businesses near public transit corridors can experience higher revenues through increased foot traffic.
Transit may look and function differently than it did in decades past, but the foundation of its success remains the same: people working together toward a common destination. As we look to the future, we invite business, civic, and community partners to join us in continuing to build a transit system that keeps pace with our region’s momentum.
Don Swain is general manager of Reno Operations, Keolis North America.
Jim Gee is director of public transportations and operations of Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County.