GINA B. GOOD / PVT Silver Rider's bus mavens Debbie Dauenhauer, executive director, and Tammy Munro, assistant executive director, make a short but effective presentation regarding their not-for-profit service before the Pahrump Town Board on Tuesday. Advertisement

Another bus company is romancing Pahrump.

Tuesday night the Pahrump Town Board unanimously voted to support the efforts of Silver Rider, a not-for-profit transit organization, by sending a letter of recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners.

Silver Rider is the brain child of the Southern Nevada Transit Coalition (SNTC) and operates successful public transportation in the rural Nevada communities of Laughlin, Mesquite, Indian Springs, Searchlight, Cal-Nev-Ari., Palm Gardens, Logandale, Overton, Moapa and Glendale. Pahrump could be next on their list.

Since the company is not hampered by the need to turn a profit, the cost to ride the bus remains low.

SNTC has secured an agreement from the Federal Transportation Administration for $240,900. They also already own 28 buses ready to use in Pahrump and can supply National Safety Council-certified drivers.

However, that does not mean money is not an issue. Matching funds or services in kind must be found.

In their brief but highly effective presentation, the two representatives from Silver Rider made it abundantly clear they are ready, willing and able to solve Pahrump's un-met transportation needs by providing buses within the town.

According to Tammy Munro, the organization's assistant executive director, "We really want to see this happen because SNTC was created in 2002 to bring transportation service to Pahrump. With the growth this community has experienced since then, it's unacceptable not to have a transportation system here."

Executive Director Debbie Dauenhauer explained that Silver Rider would operate in partnership with other proposed transit plans -- including Regent Holidays of Las Vegas, which hopes to obtain a temporary permit in mid-October from the Nevada Transportation Authority to resume its truncated bus service from Pahrump to Las Vegas, as reported in the Pahrump Valley Times Sept. 10.

"We would be partners as far as cooperating with transit routes -- not actually business partners," Dauenhouser said. Silver Rider buses would pick up riders from designated stops within the community. "Think of us as your bus stop on the corner," said Munro. "We would time our schedules to coordinate with other transit services."

For instance, riders would board a 24-seat Silver Rider bus near their homes and be taken to a central location to catch the Pahrump Express to Las Vegas and then reverse the process to end up back near home.

According to Dauenhouer, Silver Rider would also compliment the Pahrump Senior Center bus program by offering discounts for seniors and extending the hours of bus transportation currently available to them, "for added quality of life issues like socializing by going to a casino to play bingo."

Youth discounts would also be offered.

In a letter dated Sept. 21 from NDOT to Town Manager Bill Kohbarger, NDOT's Assistant Director of Planning Tracy Larkin Thomason said NDOT is working to re-establish the Reno-Las Vegas bus route that would operate one bus a day in each direction with a proposed stop in Pahrump, also in each direction.

Should that route come to fruition, Silver Rider would support that schedule with feeder lines -- again picking up riders to get them to the long-distance bus and back near home again.

"Each of our operations is tailored to the area we service" said Dauenhouer. "We specialize in rural communities, and in a place as spread out as Pahrump it's just unacceptable that there is no general population public transportation.

"We are all about rural. I get excited because I know the difference we make in people's lives in other communities."

Dauenhouer said planners would draw routes with the help of community input. The board agreed to send a general letter of support to the county commission.