Las Vegas - Monorail bankrupt

Who didn't see this coming?

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jan/13/las-vegas-monorail-files-bankruptcy-protection/

I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did before filing. Nevertheless, this is sad news.

The article states it will continue running. Hope that's still the case when we visit next month.

Yeah. Given it's routing and lack of serving the airport it was hopeless.

I'm just amazed that a 3.2 mile monorail could owe up to a billion dollars as the article suggests :eek:

Isn't this right on schedule for when they had promised to run out of money?

Monorail 0

Taxis 1

Maybe they should put slots on the monorail.


MisterNice

My family and I *LOVE* the monorail, but agree that without a link to the airport it's ridiculously limited in application. Perhaps if all trains were equipped like this one, though, they wouldn't be having these financial problems: http://www.lasvegassun.com/photos/2010/jan/15/57898/

It would have also been nice if they were a bit closer to the strip as it can be a bit of hike from many casinos. You're probably better off walking to your destination unless you're going from one end of the strip to the other.

It would have also been nice if they were a bit closer to the strip as it can be a bit of hike from many casinos. You're probably better off walking to your destination unless you're going from one end of the strip to the other.

You're exactly right. I liked taking the monorail to get between places, but it was such a journey to get to the bloody thing. If you got it from Harrahs, it was horrible, you'd have to go right to the back of the casino, up the escalators, then turn around again, then do loop-the-loop, etc. Maybe if they had put the tracks in the middle of LV BLVD, people might have been more inclined to take it as more people would have seen it. Would have been good as well if they had linked Stratosphere, and Downtown as well. Definitely would have used it a lot more.

I hate the Deuce, world's slowest bus... Such a rip off. Was bad enough at $2 o/w. Many times, I had walked from MGM Grand to Stratosphere without seeing a bus go by.

You're exactly right. I liked taking the monorail to get between places, but it was such a journey to get to the bloody thing. If you got it from Harrahs, it was horrible, you'd have to go right to the back of the casino, up the escalators, then turn around again, then do loop-the-loop, etc. Maybe if they had put the tracks in the middle of LV BLVD, people might have been more inclined to take it as more people would have seen it. Would have been good as well if they had linked Stratosphere, and Downtown as well. Definitely would have used it a lot more.

Yeah--it's elevated anyway. It should be right over Las Vegas Blvd.

What I liked about the monorail was that it made staying at the Renaissance a lot more viable (when not renting a car). There were/are some very decent rates at the Ren when there is not a convention at the adjoining LVCC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q44IDYpEeso
:D

An incredible waste of money... Shocked it lasted this long.

Yeah--it's elevated anyway. It should be right over Las Vegas Blvd.

I know it's elevated, and that's why you have to go upstairs. But if there was a simple access point in the hotel or LV Blvd, with a lift or escalator that doesn't make you go through a maze, it would have been more popular.

Yeah--it's elevated anyway. It should be right over Las Vegas Blvd.
It seems like a lot better...and far cheaper...idea would have been to close LV Blvd to public traffic and run the buses without all the traffic. Then you could also extend the sidewalks out into an existing lane or two.

It seems like a lot better...and far cheaper...idea would have been to close LV Blvd to public traffic and run the buses without all the traffic. Then you could also extend the sidewalks out into an existing lane or two.

Completely agree, make it more pedestrian friendly. They could always do what London has done, and make a congestion charge for LV Blvd. But most of the hotels would complain saying customers would not be able to access the hotel, or park their car. In London, they charge £8 for you to have the pleasure of driving your car through London. But you would probably get people screaming it's against their Constitutional Right to charge a congestion fee.

It seems like a lot better...and far cheaper...idea would have been to close LV Blvd to public traffic and run the buses without all the traffic. Then you could also extend the sidewalks out into an existing lane or two.

Yeah--I've long advocated making Las Vegas Blvd into a combination of a pedestrian mall and mass transit corridor only. Vehicle access to the casinos would only be via Koval and Industrial.

That would go over like a lead balloon, though--the taxi drivers would loathe it and the casinos would lose the traffic virtually stopped in front of their ads.

I'm just amazed that a 3.2 mile monorail could owe up to a billion dollars as the article suggests :eek:

Per mile/Km, I wonder how much it compares to the Shanghai-PG MagLev.

Yeah--I've long advocated making Las Vegas Blvd into a combination of a pedestrian mall and mass transit corridor only. Vehicle access to the casinos would only be via Koval and Industrial.

That would go over like a lead balloon, though--the taxi drivers would loathe it and the casinos would lose the traffic virtually stopped in front of their ads.Perhaps an overhead pedestrian mall. They've already got most of the casinos connected by skywalks now - I could see a nicely done elevated pedestrian area.

The reason I don't think you could do the pedestrian mall at ground level is because the casinos want that "sense of arrival" by car, and shunting cars off to the back isn't what they paid for. Plus, for better or worse, a big part of the first-time tourist experience is cruising LV Blvd - "ooh! there's Paris! Wow, it really is like a mini New York city over there! There's the pryamid! Who's the creepy clown?" :D :D :D

Perhaps an overhead pedestrian mall. They've already got most of the casinos connected by skywalks now - I could see a nicely done elevated pedestrian area.

The reason I don't think you could do the pedestrian mall at ground level is because the casinos want that "sense of arrival" by car, and shunting cars off to the back isn't what they paid for. Plus, for better or worse, a big part of the first-time tourist experience is cruising LV Blvd - "ooh! there's Paris! Wow, it really is like a mini New York city over there! There's the pryamid! Who's the creepy clown?" :D :D :D

An overhead mall would block the views you're talking about.

I attended CES 2010 and the monorail was packed with people most of the day. Unfortunately, a show this size only occurs once a year. [Note CES has a large number of FREE shuttle buses linking the CC with most of the strip hotels--without this service, the monorail could NOT have handled the capacity crowds.]

I agree this took longer than expected for the monorail to fail. Outside of the lack of an airport stop, putting it on one side of the strip, and taking forever just to get to the monorail even if you were on the east part of the strip, they may have benefited even more had they taken a design that was similar to the BTS train system in Bangkok, Thailand where the subway hovered above the middle of Sumkuhvit Road. This way, passengers would have at least had the option of going to either the west or east part of the strip depending on the hotel of destination. But even with that idea, without an airport stop, this thing was doomed from the get go. Considering the taxi costs to go to even the Mandalay bay at roughly $20 one way, the monorail would've had many more passengers taking it with an airport stop assuming that the fare would have been roughly $5 one-way to or from the airport.

I agree this took longer than expected for the monorail to fail. Outside of the lack of an airport stop, putting it on one side of the strip, and taking forever just to get to the monorail even if you were on the east part of the strip, they may have benefited even more had they taken a design that was similar to the BTS train system in Bangkok, Thailand where the subway hovered above the middle of Sumkuhvit Road. This way, passengers would have at least had the option of going to either the west or east part of the strip depending on the hotel of destination. But even with that idea, without an airport stop, this thing was doomed from the get go. Considering the taxi costs to go to even the Mandalay bay at roughly $20 one way, the monorail would've had many more passengers taking it with an airport stop assuming that the fare would have been roughly $5 one-way to or from the airport.

Yes, and using your example, the walk from the last monorail station to Mandaly Bay is ridiculous. Really, none of the west side strip hotels were convenient from the monorail. What were they thinking?

An overhead mall would block the views you're talking about.Think a creative, thin mall - say, 6-8 feet wide on both sides.

Even if connecting from the Monorail to the free tram from Excalibur to Mandalay, one would still have to hike inside MGM through various zigzagging (which is not necessarily a short walk either) and then two overhead pedestrian bridge crossings just to get to Excalibur. So the transfer from the Monorail to that free tram isn't convenient as well.

First for the "what were "they" thinking", the "they" is not the city of Las Vegas, or the State of Nevada. This isn't a public tax payer based venture, its private. The thousands of cab drivers and limo drivers that make their living in Las Vegas hate the thing. Anyone that thinks they'd get funding to expand it to the airport (given the dismal numbers to date, and the opposition of the current transportation industry) is smoking something. Running it down the middle of the strip? :)

Second, closing Las Vegas Blvd to traffic is almost impossible. Its two/three lanes in both directions and carries a ton of traffic on a daily basis. The two roads that run behind the hotels on the southern part of the strip (Frank Sinatra Blvd and Koval Lane) aren't equipped to become major arteries. Frank Blvd has I-15 on one side and hotels on the other. Koval could in theory be expanded, but not without knocking down a ton of houses, apartments and businesses. Add in the fact that locals don't really care that it takes tourists an extra 15-30 min to fight traffic on that LV Blvd at certain times of day. They know when to avoid LV Blvd, and in a lot of cases, that's 100% of the time.

The pedestrian overpasses are a great improvement to LV Blvd, but they were built to keep the death toll down as much as they were built to improve traffic.

the only way this thing would have survived is if it had connected from the airport to fremont.

The Las Vegas Monorail Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday, but will continue to operate, company officials said.I love how half the posts in this thread already have the monorail in the past tense, as if they're busy dismantling the rails as we speak. :D :D :D

Ding ding ding! Winnah!

Airport -> LV blvd -> Downtown.

HTSC
the only way this thing would have survived is if it had connected from the airport to fremont.

Ding ding ding! Winnah!

Airport -> LV blvd -> Downtown.

HTSC

Not in the next 10 years.