TR snippet: BUS WITH LUGGAGE TO DOWNTOWN

BUS FROM THE AIRPORT TO DOWNTOWN MORE COMPLICATED

I planned this trip to use the RTC bus less often than I generally do while all the confusion around the new BTC resolves and all the routes settle into some sort of dependable pattern.

It was a good plan.

However, I did have one trip from the Orleans to El Cortez that I thought would be easy enough on the bus. Tropicana to Swenson. Then Swenson to downtown using the airport 108.

Well, I misread the loop on the schedule. The 108 no longer goes near the Freemont Experience, nor does the 109. Now you have to take another bus at the Bonneville Transit Center.

I made the mistake of asking which route took me tot he El Cortez and they told me the 107 would drop me nearby. After an incredible maze of twists and turns, it did too, but it dropped me two blocks on the sketchy side of the El Cortez where wheeling my huge suitcase made me an target for crime.

I was happy it was a quiet Sunday morning.

So I took three buses and I still could not seem to get on safe ground.

Now had I taken the Max or the 113 from the BTC I would have been let off farther from El Cortez but right there next to the Walgreen's where the old 108 once dropped passengers rather than out beyond the Downtower Motel. It would have been a longer walk, but a safer one as East Freemont is very different after all the renovation and improvements.

I have read in a board post that a new airport bus will deliver folks with luggage to downtown, hopefully by December, but I don't see that on the RTC site nor can I find it by searching in general so I don't know if it is a real plan or wishful thinking. Until then I would advise using the higher priced shuttles just outside the luggage area of the airport and not a city bus.

Without luggage, of course, the Deuce and the Ace/Goldline/downtown express will easily and safely get you right to Freemont. And if you travel very light, you can probably get your carry on bags on the Gold line. But it will not accept the kind of luggage I bring and it still means taking two buses.

If you feel comfortable walking from the new BTC to Freemont then that is an option.

I don't. I advise against it.

Also, everyone was very confused. Regular riders were confused. The bus driver was driving with a map of the new route, and he was confused. The woman at the BTC took forever to advise me of the 107 route and seemed confused as well. I should have asked more questions there. Had I thought to ask how to be dropped near Freemont I would not have been sent on the 107 into sketchy territory.

I generally like ending my long 17 day trips at the El Cortez because I can play low limit poker at the end of the trip even if my cash is low, and I can meet up with friendly dealers who know my name and some players who remember me. Also getting two nights using the American Casino Guide coupon for $30 and a free shuttle to the airport is good value.

But I expect in the future I'll be inclined to stay longer up near the strip now at the Super 8 and have the amenities and an easy walk/shuttle/bus trip between strip casinos.

Without luggage getting from the strip to downtown seems very easy using the Express and I might do that.

However, I will miss the option of waking up in the middle of the night and joining the often soft, late night El Cortez game when I can't sleep.

If I really want to stay at the El Cortez, and this new airport to downtown bus becomes a reality, perhaps I'll use the Super 8 shuttle to go to the airport and grab that to downtown. In the meantime I may just let Super 8 shuttle me to the airport and the paid shuttles take me downtown.

I don't go back now until next May, and by then things will have changed again in many ways I am certain.