This is the second day on the job for me in this new position, so it is a great privilege and honor for me to be here and provide some testimony before you today on livable communities. I have lived in a number of places around the country and around the globe and this is the place where I call home.
What we are doing at the Regional Transportation Commission. Since 1990 we have added more than half a million people to our population in southern Nevada. And as a result of that, back in 1990 when we wanted to go to work it averaged about sixteen minutes to get there, and in 1998 that average figure has more than doubled; it has grown to thirty-four minutes to get to work. Now what are we as the metropolitan planning organization, the primary transit service provider doing about that issue?
Well, rather than just tell you, we have a tape that we would like to show you to show you what we have done in the past. If we could start that tape now, please. I am going to show you what we have done in the past and what we are doing now.
This is the CAT bus system that started off in December of 1992. During the first year of operation in 1993, we had approximately 13 million people ride the CAT bus system. Since then we've grown exponentially, about 35 percent per year. In 1998, we had more than 46 million people ride the CAT bus system. Significant growth. Most of our growth is fueled by local demand. Eighty percent of our ridership comes from the residential areas and the neighborhoods. That is where much of our demand is based.
Now the Las Vegas strip is a little bit different. It is unique in transit in this country that we have a route that runs along the strip. It runs 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. We have about a million people per month on those strip routes. It is a very important source of transportation for us.
Our CAT fleet, that you see on the screen right here, has 296 coaches that are fully ADA-compliant. All of our buses are equipped with bicycle racks. We average more than 35,000 bikes on our busses each month, and that exceeds the averages for the ecotopia capitals of the Pacific Northwest, Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. We are very proud of that fact, promoting a new modality.
Now what you see on the screen, this isn't part of our fixed fleet, these are the CAT paratransit service busses. There is 120 of them, all in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. We provide curb-to-curb service for the growing mentally and physically disabled population in southern Nevada. This CAT bus paratransit fleet runs exclusively on compressed natural gas, a very clean burning fuel. It is the largest alternatively fueled fleet in the State and that helps Clark County meet some of the air quality goals that Commissioner Bruce Woodbury was talking about, who is also the chairman of the Regional Transportation Commission.
What you see on the screen now on the right is the bus we want you to focus on. That is the CAT Car. It is not really part of our fixed route system, CAT CAR stands for Citizens Aided Transit Community Access Route, nor is it part of our paratransit system; it is kind of a hybrid between the two. It runs on a fixed route on a set schedule but it gets off those major roadways to provide front door drop-off and pick-up service to major medical facilities, like you see UMC here, as well as major commercial facilities like the malls, and major recreational facilities. We have one route that operates in the Las Vegas area, we added one in Henderson last year, we are adding one in Summerlin right now. We meet extensively with the community to get impact from them and input from them on how this service ought to be operated, where it ought to go, and how it ought to function.
We also have some specialty bus services that we provide -- downtown circulator routes, express routes to get across town along the strip, and some enterprise zone routes that are focused on where the jobs are. And that meets a special niche in our community.
What you are seeing on the screen now are the plans for the expansion of the downtown transportation center. That is our only transfer hub in our transit system. It is right to the west of us. We would like to thank you particularly, Senator Reid, for your efforts in TEA-21 in getting a special project so that we could look at adding a new transfer terminal station on the southern end of the resort corridor. That southern transfer hub is in the environmental review phase right now. When it is complete we will be able to add a lot of additional amenities that we don't now enjoy in this downtown transportation facility. It will offer new transfer options for the community as well. We are greatly looking forward to that.
We cannot continue to rely on building roads and putting busses on the road to meet our growing congestion and air quality concerns. We need to do more. And so for the future, we are launching a project called CAT Match Commuter Services. It is a transportation demand management program that is designed for area businesses and their employees. Through the use of computer matching, participants can receive free transportation information on convenient carpool, vanpool, transit, biking, or walking alternatives. We don't care if they rollerblade to work or if they ride their skateboard, just as long as they are not one individual in their car trying to get to work.
We need to provide incentives for people to be able to do this successful. Through the use of a club ride card we will be able to have employers provide their employees with preferential parking on-site discounts from local merchants and monthly cash prizes. We think that is a significant incentive.
We also need to provide incentives for the employers. And through TEA-21 there is now the capability for participating employers to reduce their payroll expenses by up to 15 percent per participating employee. We think that is a significant incentive.
That is what we have done, what we are doing now, and what our plans for the future are to reduce congestion and improve air quality in southern Nevada.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, you know that in the past I have spent much of my career in the air transportation industry. There is a gentleman that you know, his name is Herb Kelleher, the chairman and chief executive officer of Southwest Airlines, and Mr. Kelleher is very proud of the fact and he brags that Southwest Airlines, because of their low fares, has brought the freedom to fly to the American public. I am here to tell you today, Mr. Chairman, that the Citizens Area Transit System has provided the freedom to ride for southern Nevadans.
So many times we see where both parents in the family need to work and they do not have access to two vehicles or even one vehicle. CAT gives them the freedom to get to work and to get to day care. For the tens of thousands of disabled people in our community, the CAT paratransit system not only gives them freedom, but a new found independence and a feeling of self-reliance because they do not have to rely on family or friends to get them where they need to go. And even with these increased commute times that we see today, even for the well-healed commuter, the CAT system gives an alternative to a long, torturous, and difficult commute.
We do not think that we need to look to the Federal Government to solve all of our transportation and growth problems. But we do think the Federal Government plays an appropriate role in funding transit and transit-related infrastructure. And we look forward to continue working with you in that regard. We also think there is some merit to providing incentives to local governments who promote transit-friendly land-use policies.
That is my testimony, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much.