Pahrump Valley Transportation’s newest service will give students rides from after-school programs

Pahrump Valley Public Transportation will offer new service aimed at helping students get home from after-school activities, according to Executive Director Eric Whalen.

The town’s public bus service hit the roads in 2018. PVPT launched new routes between Pahrump and Beatty and Amargosa earlier this year.

Now that school is back in session, Whalen said the bus service will expand to include rides for students from their extracurricular activities.

Whalen told the Nye County Commission on Aug. 1 that as part of the county’s America Rescue Plan Act grant program, the agency was allotted $60,700 to support the expansion of services.

“We did meet with the Pahrump Valley High School and Rosemary Clarke Middle School principals,” Whalen told commissioners. “They are both ecstatic about the program we are going to be offering after school, giving students rides from school after their after-school activities, whether that be sports or academic clubs, whatever the case may be. We can have safe transportation for those students straight to their homes, for guaranteed safety.”

Whalen said this newest program is well underway, with staff at the high school and middle school working to gather parental permission forms and sign students up.

“We anticipate a high volume of students for this program,” he remarked.

Moving on the other aspects of the bus service, Whalen said the organization is going strong and looking forward to continuing its mission of helping residents reach the places they need to go.

“Pahrump Valley Public Transportation did receive an award notice from the Federal Transportation Administration and Nevada Department of Transportation regarding our building purchase, we will own our own facility. In addition to that, we also received our award notice from NDOT for our operation funding for the next fiscal year. So Pahrump Valley Public Transportation is doing quite well. I’m not saying we’re rich but we are a success story,” Whalen stated.

As for the Beatty and Amargosa routes, Whalen said they have seen very different reactions from the two communities.

“We are very pleased to announce that Beatty to Pahrump, the route is doing quite well. We’re averaging four to six riders per trip,” Whalen said.

The Beatty route travels out to that town each Thursday to pick up passengers and bring them into Pahrump. Riders are using this service for a variety of reasons but the one that is experiencing the most increase is health care purposes.

“We’ve noticed an uptick in medical appointments now that our Beatty residents know this route is definite, they can schedule their appointments and get things done. We’re expecting numbers to climb and climb because every time we go, we increase ridership. So it’s looking really good,” he said.

When it comes to the Amargosa route, however, there has been little to no local interest to date. Whalen said he had attended an Amargosa Town Board meeting with former commissioner and PVPT official John Koenig, as well as distributing flyers to promote the new Amargosa route but, “Thus far, we’ve had no response from anybody in Amargosa wanting to come into Pahrump on Tuesdays. Which is unfortunate.”

Despite the lackluster response, PVPT will continue to advertise the Amargosa route in the hopes that riders will eventually come.

PVPT is a curb-to-curb transit service that operates in Pahrump, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson, as well as Beatty and Amargosa.

“The cost to ride for local transportation is $3 per trip. All local rides require a minimum of 72 hours advance notice and are subject to availability,” the PVPT website reads. “Cost per trip for Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson transportation is $35 round-trip. All rides must be scheduled two weeks in advance and are subject to availability.

For more information visit www.PahrumpValleyTransit.com or call 775-727-2030.

Call 775-751-6860 to schedule a ride.

The PVPT office is located at 601 East Street in Pahrump. Office hours are 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. with a lunch closure between noon and 1 p.m.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com