South Shore-Carson City bus route threatened

People relying on public transportation to get between the South Shore and Carson City may be out of luck starting Oct. 1.

The Tahoe Transportation District, which operates the BlueGo bus system, is losing funding for the 5-year-old route as of Sept. 30. It is not eligible for federal funding because Tahoe is no longer designated a rural area when it comes to transportation dollars.

The Stateline-based TTD lobbied hard to get the basin to be considered an urban area with the goal of being able to obtain more transportation dollars. Losing route 21x, which has 25,000 rides a year, is one of the side effects of that change.

The transportation agency is looking for other ways to pay for the route so there is not an interruption in what is mostly a commuter service.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report