Apple Maps gains public transit directions for Las Vegas, Reno, other Nevada regions

By Roger Fingas

Apple has expanded public transit directions for Maps to several major urban areas in Nevada, most notably Las Vegas and its surroundings.

Residents and visitors can now get times, stops, and routes for options like the Las Vegas Monorail and RTC Transit buses. These include the special Deuce and SDX shuttles, which cater to people touring the Strip and downtown landmarks like the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Other newly-covered regions include Reno, Sparks and Carson City, with bus directions for RTC Washoe and Jump Around Carson. On a state level people can get around using Silverado Mainline buses, or existing options like Amtrak trains.

Apple has been gradually expanding public transit coverage since restoring it in iOS 9. The company stripped out support in 2012's controversial iOS 6, as the app was previously dependent on data from rival Google.

Most of Apple's present coverage is concentrated in the U.S., U.K., China and Japan. Other countries, like Canada and Australia, are limited to one or a handful of cities -- most nations have no transit directions whatsoever.

Apple has yet to update its official roster with mention of Nevada.