The Washoe County Regional Transportation Commission is providing vouchers for UberX rides to stranded riders as the Teamsters Local 533 strike against transit contractor Keolis North America continues into its fifth day.
RTC officials said the vouchers will be provided to riders “who need emergency (stranded) transportation.”
Those stranded riders could be customers of RTC’s regular routes, most of which aren’t being serviced during the strike. But Teamsters’ president Gary Watson said they also include para transit and flex ride passengers who are seeing delays of 30 minutes to an hour.
“RTC Washoe is utilizing its para transit and flex ride vans to service fixed route bus services (big buses) due to the labor strike,” Watson said. Those services are contracted to MTM Transit, a separate contractor for the RTC, and serve many senior riders and people with disabilities.
Watson added, “The para transit and flex ride passengers should not suffer because another RTC Washoe contractor (Keolis) is not performing to its contact standards with this community.”
The Uber vouchers are available through Aug. 31 and apply only to trips that start and end within the Reno-Sparks area. Each voucher provides two rides, with a maximum $20 per ride.
Riders will need to have the Uber app to request the ride, and any amount over $20 for the ride will be charged to their card on file with their Uber account. The rides are only for UberX and can be used any day of the week and at any time of day.
For information and to request a voucher call the RTC Mobility Center at (775) 348-0477 option 2.
Click on the link to view all operating transit service during the current disruption of service: RTC Transit Contingency Service – RTC Washoe.
