Wax Bus from Airport to Downtown

Hi All,

I know this has been asked before, but couldn't find a specific answer to my question. Yes, I might have missed it as well. Old age ya know.

We will be arriving on South West Airlines. Where is the bus stop for the WAX at the airport. I've seen the bus, but never paid any attention to where it stopped.

We are staying at the Plaza downtown, so what bus stop should we get off on?

We're both seniors, so for the senior fare, is any specific senior ID needed for the bus. Otherwise the $2.00 fare is just fine.

Thanks in Advance

 

Text— RideRTC 1785 to 414-11. This is the stop at the airport. It will respond with the busses arriving in the next 20-25 minutes.
Go to baggage claim. You want 0 (zero) level. It is an escalator. You take it down and exit the double doors heading to the right at about 45!degrees. You’ll see it.
What’s great about the app is you can stay inside if raining or hot and watch for the bus. It moves slowly from left to right (toward the stop and you can meet it easily if you leave upon sighting it.)
Anyone associated with the airport can point out the escalator to 0 level. Good luck and practice the app. It’s great.
I just typed it and here is what I got:

Arrivals McCarran Airport @ McCarran Airport (N)
108 S 11:17 A
108 N 11:21 A
109 N 11:22 A
109 S 11:25 A

 

WAX is the deal!
The Lyft/Uber cluster fuck at the airport is horrible.
I have never seen the driver hassle someone about senior discount.

 

I did it my last trip just for kicks it was pretty simple. I was lucky I only had to wait less than 5 minutes for the bus to get there. Never thought to ask where to catch the bus to go back to the airport. It is not the Same place they drop you off. It was about one street over. But I don't remember which casino it was alongside of. It was right on Fremont street at 1 of the little cross walk areas where the pedestrians have to let the traffic go through

 

Going back to the airport from downtown the bus stop is on the side of Binions. casino center drive between Binions in Fremont casino.

 

The stop in getting there from the airport is 4th & Carson (on the east side of the D). You can walk from there along E Carson Avenue towards the Golden Nugget, and continue onward to the Plaza.

 

The bus picks you up on level zero, you need to go down an escalator to get to that level, once you exit it's a couple hundred ft to the right. Going to the plaza you could get off at the 4th and carson stop as others mentioned, or you could get off at the bonneville transit center and walk, from there it would be almost the same walk - 6 -7 blocks.

 

The fare for seniors is $1, just showing your id to the driver should be fine.

 

Thanks for the info. About how far of a walk is it?

 

I would not get off the Bonneville transit center if I were a senior citizen. The walk from there to Fremont canopy can be sketchy. By contrast the walk from Carson/4th near the Walgreens is a safe walk under the canopy to the Plaza.

 

I have used the WAX bus at least 10 times. Also, good to know that there is a luggage rack if you are not traveling light. It is a great way to get around town. I have used it to get back to the strip from DT and have also traveled out to Suncoast a couple times, the end of the line. There is a nice movie theater there if you need a gambling break.

 

You can get a free senior id at the transit center. I haven't needed it for one way fares, but typically wound up showing for a day pass. There are a lot of homeless in Vegas. Their presence doesn't make a walk sketchy. I've never had an issue walking from the transit center. There are definitely problematic people in Vegas that can threaten your safety. It just seems to me that people tend to exaggerate the dangers in certain areas while ignoring that tragedies in areas like the strip are inevitable. I am not speaking as a local, but I've traveled through economically depressed areas through out the world. I feel safe on the strip, but I believe it is only a matter of time before more people are killed there. I would be interested to hear how many tourists have been killed, or even hurt walking to their hotel from the transit center, or to MSS or El Cortez. Most homeless people just want to find a place were people don't hassle them. Life is in a sense dangerous. In fact, none of us are getting out of it alive. Walking to El Cortez, MSS or the Bonneville transit is about as safe as the other things that I do. The scariest thing to happen to me was when I was in bed sleeping and an earthquake hit. I didn't feel safe until I was walking around DT Vegas.

 

There will be more than one kind of bus that stops at the airport that go downtown.

Keep in mind, the bus drivers version of downtown and your version is different. Their version is the bonneville terminal which is downtown but about a mile from where you want to go. Knowing this, do not ask people on the bus stop or the driver if the bus goes downtown because they will say yes, you will board the wrong bus and have to get off at the bonneville terminal.

You want fremont street. the one that goes to fremont street. This will then get you the right bus. Of course, only use the WAX.

Something odd about the bus stops in vegas you simply do not see anywhere else in that every single person you ask a question of will give you a wrong answer. No idea why this is but it is a fact.

 

I've seen the area of the BTC and no, I would never get off there. And a long walk to boot. LOL

 

Been to the Bonneville Transit Center many times, always walking to or from it from the FSE. Yes, there are "sketchy" characters and depending on which street you take you may get to walk by two jails, but we've never felt in any danger. There is a lot of activity at the center and the walk to or from is usually somewhat populated. I wouldn't do it in the middle of the night, but I don't hesitate during the day.
I'd say the walk to the Plaza is almost equidistant from the Bonneville Transit Center or near Walgreens where the WAX stop for the FSE is. The main advantage of the FSE stop is shade while walking under the canopy.

 

It's about 700 yards. It would take me 10-15 minutes.

 

I walked from the California hotel to the Bonneville Transit Center several months ago early in the morning around 7 am to catch a bus (FlixBus to San Diego). It was a pleasant stroll. At that hour on that day, it didn't feel dangerous to me. I only saw a few people at that hour.

I would not take the same walk at night.

About 32 hours earlier, I took the Wax bus from McCarran to Fremont Street because I had flown in on a flight. It was great.

 

I've done the walk several times during the day, because I took the 108 instead of the WAX(didn't want to wait for the next wax), the walk is nice and along mostly empty streets, yes, it goes by the jail, but there are cameras all around that jail, nothing is going to happen there.

As I said, the walk is about the same to the plaza as the walk from the walgreens, My thinking is that because the bus might take 4-5 min to get from the bonneville center to 4th and carson, by the time you get off at walgreens you could be 1/3 of the way there already walking.

 

Thanks everyone. I appreciate it.

 

This video gives a decent walkthrough of the options.The bus portion starts at about 2:50 on the video
Get off at 4th and Carson and you are a short walk away. Have fun!