Musk’s Las Vegas taxi venture could be approved without a hearing

By Dana Gentry

Nevada Current

An effort by Elon Musk’s Boring Company to turn its tunneled Teslas into taxis on Las Vegas’ surface streets, which could put taxi and rideshare services out of business, according to experts, may win approval from the Nevada Transportation Authority without providing the public the opportunity to hear debate or critique the proposal, other than during public comment.

The Current reported earlier this month that Paradise Transportation Company, a subsidiary of Boring, tried to mask its connection to the Vegas Loop in its initial application to shuttle passengers to and from the airport and special events with fares that undercut taxi and rideshare services.

In May, then-NTA Commissioner David Groover partially denied the company’s bid for the ability to operate while its application was being considered. Groover was subsequently removed from the commission by Department of Business and Industry Director Kristopher Sanchez.

A June hearing on the bid never took place, without explanation from the NTA.

Within days of the Current’s story, two months after the cancelled hearing, the NTA posted a notice on its website stating the hearing would be rescheduled.

On Thursday, NTA attorney Yoneet Wilburn confirmed that the agency’s statement on its website doesn’t mean a hearing will take place.

“It does not ensure it,” Wilburn wrote via email, adding an “application hearing is not a requirement before being voted on by the full Authority.”

Dept. of Business and Industry spokeswoman Teri Williams denied the NTA posted false information on its state website, and refused to say why the agency waited two months to post a notice saying the cancelled hearing would be rescheduled.

“While the language of the notice posted on the website may have been better stated to say that the hearing ‘may’ be rescheduled, the intent of staff was to provide maximum transparency related to the process given that the matter is of high interest to the public because of the unique nature of the larger project,” Williams said Wednesday via email. “We have elected to remove the notice and will not be providing you any further explanation.”

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Dana Gentry is a native Las Vegan and award-winning investigative journalist. She is a graduate of Bishop Gorman High School and holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.