On Thursday, April 11 and Friday, April 12 of 2018 I rode Carson City JAC (Jump Around Carson), the…read morebus service for the city, a number of times. My car was past its best days, and I needed to use this service to get around before I bought another car. I also had gone to their main office on Butti Way to pick-up a discount card back in 2015, I believe it was.
I am mostly pleased with the bus service, with a few complaints on how it is administered.
The buses are all clean; the bus drivers are nice; and the clientele (other bus riders) is friendly and pleasant. They also run on time and are not crowded. The bus shelter I waited at was clean. They have signs at most locations marking the stops, so you know where to wait. When I called them a few times, they answered right away and were helpful. When I emailed once, the person responded in a timely manner with an offer to call him so he could answer my complaints.
There is also a free app they offer that I used on my phone to track the location of the buses in real time, so I was kept always informed. The app is available for both Apple and Google Android phones.
Fares are $1.00, with free transfers. The price has been stable for at least the past four years I have been here. There are also monthly and 10-ride discount passes available. Seniors (age 60+), disabled people, and youth (5-18) get reduced $0.50 fares. Children 4 and under ride free. In addition, senior citizens, age 60+, can get free, unlimited bus service, through a grant from the Nevada Aging and Disability Services Division.
The service runs weekdays from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM, and on Saturdays from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. They do not run Sundays and six major holidays.
There are three routes They say there are four routes, but two of the routes are the same, except one goes in a clockwise circular direction, and the other goes counter-clockwise. All buses meet at the Downtown Transfer Plaza every hour for 10 minutes to allow riders to make transfers. There you can also transfer to DART for Gardnerville, Minden, and South Lake Tahoe, or to RTC for Reno and Sparks. They also offer a paratransit service for people who are more disabled.
My only complaints are:
1) The buses often take the side streets, behind the major shopping centers (like on both sides of South Carson street), and avoid some of the retail stores all together, like on East William Street or to the car dealers on South Carson Street. So people have to walk farther. This is probably better for automobile traffic, as the buses do not clog up the streets.
2) There is no service to the two major shopping plazas on Topsy Lane in Douglas County (Clear Creek Plaza and Carson Valley Plaza) right past the Carson City line on South Carson Street, or to the plaza one mile down the road at Jack Valley Road. These plazas mainly service Carson City residents, as the population center for Douglas County is more than 10 miles away. Sure, you can transfer to the DART, but that entails a hassle as the ride is much longer and more expensive ride. It would be much easier if JAC just extended their service one-half mile into the next county.
It is also true you could walk from the Costco, which JAC does service, on the back road of Vista Grand Boulevard, by Fuji Park, but this entails a 0.7 mile walk (or more) and you would have to go through the back of Clear Creek Plaza, with no sidewalk and where the trucks are. Many older or disabled people cannot walk that far, or the weather could be bad.
3) My driver also made me wait outside the bus at the Downtown Transfer Station while she got out to use the restroom. In cold weather, this is a problem, as riders would prefer to wait on a warm bus.
4) The system does not have service on Sundays or holidays, and the last rides are at 6:30 PM on weekdays and 3:30 PM on Saturdays.
5) The schedule can be hard to read at first, as it is confusing to know were the various stops are, as they are not on the same locations on each side of the street. It depends on which direction the bus is going. It took me three or four times and a call to the operation center to understand this.
For my review of their main office on Butti Way, when I went in 2015, I was pleased. It's a small, older office, with a desk. There isn't much of a waiting or standing area. There they offer the discount card, sell passes, and have schedules available. It was located out of the way, in the outskirts of the city, but I can understand that, as there has to be an area to park all the buses and it has to be close to the maintenance yards. They probably do not have a lot of customers go there.
So, all in all, I am happy. It's a small city, so I understand they have to have limited bus service and they want to keep their fares low. At the same time, I like small, as that usually means better, more personal service and clean.
