Bus service gap closed between Sparks and south Reno

With all the cuts in service by the municipal bus line, there has been at least one addition to service that is an enormous relief to Sparks users of Citifare. A Sparks-to-south Reno line has finally been created.

The lack of such a line has been one of the most frequent complaints of Sparks bus riders. Because there was no route from Sparks directly to south Reno (where there are many of the area’s jobs and much of its shopping), they had to take the bus to the downtown Sparks station, then transfer onto a bus to the downtown Reno station, then ride it south.

There has long been a route that ran from Meadowood Mall around the east side of the valley, but it stopped in the East McCarran/Mill Street area and then returned to Meadowood without reaching Sparks. Now, it does go the rest of the way through to the Sparks station.

On the other hand, the bus agency, RTC Ride, has quietly cut the usefulness of transfers. They were previously valid for two hours, which has been reduced to 90 minutes. Some riders discovered the change when their transfers failed to work in the reader.