09/18/2026
Leadership is changing at the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County - RTC which runs our transit and facilitates the installation of safe bicycle facilities. They are working hard to make changes fast (recently making it free for students to ride the bus) and really tough projects like "quick build" protected bike lanes and the biggest safety improvement possibly in Downtown Reno's history. Unfortunately we don't know much about the other candidates (feel free to post about those candidates if you know anything), we have heard that staff inside the agency are passionately looking at the candidates' qualifications very closely - even staff who do not have a role in the decision. You can watch interviews with each Executive Director candidate at the link.
The first candidate from Arizona did mention "micromobility." The third candidate from Texas has not mentioned micromobility or bicycle yet, but we are still watching. We do know the second-interviewed candidate and current RTC engineer and Deputy Director Dale Keller VERY WELL. He attended TMBA's Dutch Cycling Embassy ThinkBike Workshop - a game-changer for safety in Reno. He is part of the team currently leading efforts that came about as a result of the workshop. Recently, in a meeting with TMBA, he admitted a "missed opportunity" to continue the bike lane on Plumb to cross Virginia during the reengineering of the intersection for RED. So, he isn't afraid to admit mistakes and work to fix them. During his interview for the the Executive Director position, Mayor Hillary Schieve asked about his interest in serving the ADA community (a vulnerable population). Keller responded, "That is one of the greatest responsibilities of this board and this agency. We need to help provide services for our most vulnerable users, if that is from the transportation side, pedestrians, bicyclists and also on the transit side. And so one thing is that we need to continue to make sure that our mission and lens is how do we provide those services moving forward. And I think that one ways to do that is through innovation, and also find the uses of technology to help make that experience that much easier and safe and efficient. And we have done a great job to date with our transit side to help with that focus and the lense of the most vulnerable road users first and I would like to continue that as we move on. On an innovation side, I think this is where we need to make sure we don't get caught up on the next new cool technology, but . . . that we put the people first and making sure that we have a human relationship with one another and that we can put ourselves in their position and in their shoes." Later, Keller mentioned the Biggest Little Bike Network - that it came about as a result of listening to younger staff who had solutions (Likely Sara Going of RTC-Washoe) - particularly on how to connect UNR to downtown and midtown safely for pedestrians, cyclists and other micromobility users. "We had a young traffic engineer who came to us and said hey, I have a different way of thinking about this. We escalated it to the Executive Director (Bill Thomas), the Mayor Hillary Schieve, the board, bought into this thing. We found a way before investing millions of dollars to 'pilot' this infrastructure in Downtown, we tested it to get feedback, we partnered with UNR to find out if it works and guess what! We found out that more people are riding bikes and scootering in a more safe and efficient way. Now look at us, we are under construction and I AM PUMPED UP and proud of the Biggest Little Bike Network that is happening. We are doing it now and that is a $20 million dollar investment in downtown (Reno). . . that is an example of my role as Executive Director to foster innovation." In the meeting with TMBA, Keller mentioned that safety around Washoe County School District schools is a new focus - and they have installed some quick-build bike lanes, street art and candlesticks around schools as pilots. Now all we need is for Reno Police Department to warn parents not to park in bike lanes and support drop off locations farther from schools so that there is not a traffic nightmare as every single parent tries to drop off their kids at the front door of schools - its antiquated and puts our kids in danger.
Full disclosure: The Board of the Truckee Meadows Bicycle Alliance has not endorsed a candidate and is only sharing bicycle-related mentions in the interviews as educational information. This post is by TMBA Board Member and Nevada Bicycle Coalition President Ky Plaskon and any opinions in this post are his own and should not be interpreted to reflect a Board vote or candidate endorsement.
Happening now!
Interviews for the new Executive Director of RTC Washoe. We submitted questions to the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County - RTC board. Our questions are below the link. None were asked - but the questions are highly restricted - one or two per board member and they must be the same. The first candidate from Arizona did mention "Multimodal". Candidate and engineer Dale Keller of the RTC Washoe is up now, he mentioned "Safety" in his opening comments.
Watch now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xRqxsdABKs
Here are the questions we submitted.
1. Long term transportation costs and development decisions are inseparable. One example is that gated or walled communities are popular developments these days. However, we have heard from transportation and development officials that these walls prevent people from walking or biking out of their homes to visit local businesses that sometimes might be right on the other side of the wall. The result is that people have to travel a longer distance to the entrance or exit of their community. This inadvertently encourages people to drive. Do you support a ban on walled communities for future developments? Why or why not?
2. We follow standards for vehicle travel lanes. Do you support similarly adopting the FHWA Bikeway Selection Guide as policy for consideration in all roadway redesign, resurfacing and design? Why or why not?
3. What do you see as solutions to slowing our community's march toward California style road and freeway widening?
4. Is California-style road and freeway widening a solution to traffic congestion?
5. Does paint adequately protect vulnerable road users?
6. Would you support using gas tax funds for rail transit?
7. When drivers and businesses oppose the restriction of travel lanes, lower speeds or parking removal for safety improvements, how do you respond?
8. What cities in the US do you consider as good models for balancing the needs of drivers and vulnerable road users?
9. Our goal is to increase the use of more sustainable modes of transportation. How would you propose to do that?
10. How would you define success in 5-10 years for use of protected infrastructure and injury/reash reduction?
11. Oregon state law mandates that of state and federal funds that are received for road projects, 2% be used for vulnerable road user infrastructure. This has successfully increased their use of alternative transportation over time in a very rainy place. In Reno/Sparks we have so much sunshine. Do you support a similar state law in Nevada or locally to also make it safer to ride? Why or why not?
12. Las Vegas subsidizes a bicycle repair facility at their transit station to the tune of $80,000 per year and free rent and utilities. What ideas do you have to support low-income people who need help accessing sustainable transportation?
13. Should Washoe County taxpayers continue to subsidize free parking for trailers, cars and RVs on our roads at the expense of safer infrastructure for vulnerable road users?
14. Some communities have found very inexpensive ways of installing protected infrastructure - parking protected, parking lot bumpers, vegetation and planters. What is your favorite kind of protected infrastructure?
15. We know that denser development is more fiscally and environmentally responsible than sprawling development. Should transportation officials have a say in the types of development our local cities approve?
16. Are you in favor of quick builds and trying "Pilot projects" to increase safety quickly?
17. We are very interested in increasing safety around schools. There are massive traffic jams as every parent tries to drop of their kids at the front door of schools. Currently parents block bike lanes with their cars where they exist, forcing children to dart in and out of high-density traffic. What would you do to improve safety around schools?
18. Should the Metropolitan Transit Organizations highlight their work and incentivize riding by offering guided rides on their infrastructure?
19. The club ride app incentive program of the RTC is out-dated and does not offer incentives other than tracking how much money and emissions a participant has saved. Do you support or oppose contributing more of RTCs resources to offering incentives to participate similar to the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada?
20. How, in your opinion, do we resolve the conflict between e-bike riders, drivers and pedestrians?
21. Safety is a function of what and which area is missing in Nevada and how would you solve it? (ANSWER KEY: The three Es. Education, Engineering and Enforcement. Education is missing. In Nevada we use enforcement as education. Correct answer from our perspective is to finance education, partially through regular events such as those mentioned in question 18).
