Waiting for a bus in 109-degree heat isn't easy.
It can also be dangerous. But for people who depend on public transportation it's a necessary risk.
"It's devastating. I mean — the heat — there's no relief," Ebony Burnett said while waiting for her bus to arrive.
Burnett uses the bus to get to her job as a home care provider in Las Vegas.
"You just gotta stay hydrated and try to find shade as best you can," she said.
At least there's some relief from the heat at the city's main transit station. Inside, there's air-conditioning. There's plenty of shade, too. Still, the heat is always present.
"It's very dry heat. It's a desert," said Jewel Dunlap. She takes the bus to errands and doctor's appointments. She says bus riders have to be prepared in the heat.
"You could die out here if you don't have water. So it's very dangerous," she said to her grandchildren while handing them bottles of cold water.
In 2024, more than 500 people died due to heat exposure in southern Nevada, according to the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner.
That's one reason local officials secured federal funding to work on a heat response plan.
Andrew Kjellman, deputy CEO of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada says a top priority is a simple one: add more shade to bus stops. It's an effort supported by a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
"We have about 3,700 bus stops. But only half of those are covered from the sun with a shade structure," Kjellman said from underneath one of the newer structures in the downtown area.
Eventually, all the bus stops will have shade, many with what's called a "dual directional" design, Kjellman said.
"It will have a shade screen behind you like a typical transit shelter would, but it also has a shade screen in front of you. That way, regardless of what time of day it is, you will always have that protection from the sun," he explained.
In some parts of the metro area, it can be up to 11 degrees hotter. That's according to the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada's heat mapping study, developed in 2022 with a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"These are areas with less green space. So less street trees, less parks. And also a lot of asphalt parking lots. And so, all of those equal hotter temperatures," Kjellman said.
This kind of effort is taking place beyond Nevada. Cities in Arizona, including Phoenix and Tempe, have also conducted similar bus shade studies.
Tempe Transportation Manager Sam Stevenson says the city began installing new shady bus stops in 2024. His goal is to cover at least 30 per year.
"We have around 800 bus stops and prior to this project, less than 40% had shelter," Stevenson said.
Tempe is also prioritizing older, more established areas where retrofitting bus stops may be more challenging. These are typically areas where more people depend on public transportation.
"Our new standard has four different sizes. We'll call the smallest, the 'micro.' And of course, we have small, medium and large as well," Stevenson said. "And what that's enabled us to do is roll these out in locations that previously we may not have been able to fit a bus shelter."
Heat is not officially recognized as a natural disaster by the federal government, yet it claims more lives than any other extreme weather event, according to the American Public Health Association.
Recently, Nevada lawmakers sent a letter urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to increase resources for heat mitigation efforts in Nevada to improve response during extreme heat events. The city has already experienced the hottest day of 2026.
While climate change may be global, these officials believe action is also needed locally. So, officials from Arizona and Nevada gathered to share lessons learned and discuss strategies at the first Heat Summit held in Las Vegas this past spring. This year, a new law took effect in Nevada requiring communities with more than 100,000 residents to include a heat response plan.
Stevenson believes it's important to support and improve an always-evolving local response.
"There's a sense of responsibility that comes with, you know, planning for any type of heat or climate-related emergency," he said.
That's one reason so many cities are working to reduce heat injuries and deaths.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
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