Las Vegas - The monorail

Does anyone know why the monorail wasn't hooked up to the airport? Now many of us have common sense and know that it would just make sense link the strip to the airport but why wasn't it done? I'm sure that money was a big issue but *sigh* I am sure there would have been ways around it. :rolleyes: :confused:

IIRC the monorail was to be completed in phases with either the next phase or one after to connect to the airport. There are also plans for expanding the airport which may make a difference with planning of the monorail to the airport. I don't know if funding for future phases have been approved.

I'm not sure of the current ridership but with the fares being at $5 one-way it is a bit steep especially since usually you need to do a bit of a hike to get to a station.

.....

Personally, I think it was a lobbying effort by the taxi and rental car industry. Delay the expansion as long as you can. It makes no sense to have mass transit and not connect to the airport.

I agree that the delay was probably a lobbying effort.

Tentative plans are underway to expand it to the airport, with an expected completion date of 2011:

http://www.lvmonorail.com/about/expansion/

The proposed route seems to unecessarily snake around Tropicana Ave, but I guess the other properties in the area want part of the action, which means slower travel for those staying on the Strip.

I also agree that at $5 per trip, this thing is pretty expensive given its location as is. $5 would be a great price from the airport, however, assuming a trip to the middle of the strip was reasonably quick and convenient.

Yes, in a logical world the monorail should have STARTED being built at the airport, but the local taxi authority had a slight problem with that idea. And yes, there are plans to do that in the next phase.

If, however, there actually is a next phase.

The monorail has been losing money - big time - and although no public funds have been used to build it or run it, the city and state has already said they will not, under any circumstances, finance it to stay afloat.

They mentioned that the owners of the monorail were legally liable and have set aside enough money to TEAR IT DOWN, should they ever find themselves in a position to not keep it open - and so far, the prognosis is not good.

As I mention on my website, one of the major problems of the monorail is the location...it is only on the east side of The Strip, behind the casinos. So, say for instance you are staying in the Monte Carlo - you have to go down your elevator, walk all the way through the Monte Carlo, up and over the bridge on The Strip, walk all the way through the MGM Grand and then up the escalator to the Monorail. My best guess is that that is about 6 city blocks, at least. How is that for convenience? Three guesses why tourists tend to use the monorail once and decide a taxi isn't such a bad deal after all.

As I mention on my website, one of the major problems of the monorail is the location...it is only on the east side of The Strip, behind the casinos. So, say for instance you are staying in the Monte Carlo - you have to go down your elevator, walk all the way through the Monte Carlo, up and over the bridge on The Strip, walk all the way through the MGM Grand and then up the escalator to the Monorail. My best guess is that that is about 6 city blocks, at least. How is that for convenience? Three guesses why tourists tend to use the monorail once and decide a taxi isn't such a bad deal after all.
I agree. Took the monorail back in March just for kicks while we were staying at the Mirage. Had to walk out the Mirage, across the Strip, through Harrahs' casino, up a sidewalk behind the hotel and finally up an escalator to get to the station. After getting off the monorail wasn't so bad (we were headed to the MGM), but I can see why the monorail would have such poor ridership. Seems more like a "ride" than a reasonable mode of public transportation...

I usually walk the strip for exercise and if I don't want to walk back, hop on the monorail so I don't mind the walking to get to a station. The original intent of the monorail, I believe, was to connect the strip to the convention center and alleviate some of the taxi and traffic congestion. The monorail does drop you off right at the LVCC. However, it is not convenient to use it as a mode of transportation if all you want to do is get around on the strip.

How useful is it if you are staying a strip hotel that has a monorail connection.

The conference you are going to at the LVCC has free shuttle busses, but the monorail costs. Besides costs which would be better? The bus or the monorail?

I stayed at the Renaissance next to LVCC to attend a convention that was held at the Sands Convention center (or whatever its called, the hall attached to the Venetian). I bought a 3 day pass to use the Monorail to get up and down the strip. I would probably not do that again. Way, way too much walking to make it convenient. Taxis are definitely my preferred method, especially if you aren't traveling alone since you can split the cab fare but would have to buy 2 Monorail passes.

How useful is it if you are staying a strip hotel that has a monorail connection.

The conference you are going to at the LVCC has free shuttle busses, but the monorail costs. Besides costs which would be better? The bus or the monorail?

If you are impatient like me, I just as soon go with the monorail than to wait for a bus which may also make multiple stops before arriving at your destination. But then again, free is a very good price. :)

I stayed at the Renaissance next to LVCC to attend a convention that was held at the Sands Convention center (or whatever its called, the hall attached to the Venetian). I bought a 3 day pass to use the Monorail to get up and down the strip. I would probably not do that again. Way, way too much walking to make it convenient. Taxis are definitely my preferred method, especially if you aren't traveling alone since you can split the cab fare but would have to buy 2 Monorail passes.

Unless you are going to a hotel with a connected station, it is pretty inconvenient to use the monorail. So while conventions at LVCC is good for monorail, conventions at Sands or Mandalay Bay are not.

For the Sands you would need to get off at the Harrah/Imperial Palace station, which is located at the upper rear of Harrahs, walk through to the front and then out to the strip and into Venetian and traverse through to the convention center.

For Mandalay Bay, it's quite a hike from the last monorail stop, MGM.

So I agree, unless you are going to LVCC, taxis would be better for other convention sites.

How useful is it if you are staying a strip hotel that has a monorail connection.
Back when it only connected MGM and Ballys and I used to stay at MGM a lot, I used to get quite a bit of use out of the monorail and found it to be pretty convenient.

Alone it's still a pretty good deal, but at $5/person, if you have 2 or three people, it's probably faster and cheaper to take a cab most places on the Strip. And then there are other services like the Deuce (a $2 bus that runs up and down the Strip - no hiking to the back of casinos) available, as well.

The monorail should probably lower its prices. If the airport connection ever comes online, I could see it charging a higher price for that (not too much more than $5, though), but $5 for intra-Strip travel is steep given the good substitutes available.

And then there are other services like the Deuce (a $2 bus that runs up and down the Strip - no hiking to the back of casinos) available, as well.

The Deuce is great if you're in absolutely no hurry to get around. I took it from the Luxor to Bally's in the spring and it had to have taken at least 30 minutes.

The taxi looby has been quite effective in scuttling these sorts of projects from getting from city centers to the airport and it really stinks. They did it in Oakland and almost managed to do it in San Francisco as well. They really tried but the outcry pounded them into submission. The Vegas one is just even sillier since it is all such a relatively short route and they couldn't even do that. It had to be made an inconvenient and inaccessible as possible. Oh well, we rode it for fun and it was sort of fun, but that's likely all the fun we'll be having on it.

Originally the momorail's first extension was to downtown, and after this first phase, to the airport.
I saw an article recently, that plans have been finalized to go to the the airport first, without using tax dollars. Can anyone confirm all of this?
If McCarren were to tax each trip at $1 per person, they could raise the revenue and maybe really get an airport link.
The JFK airtrain was financed (totally?) from a $3 tax per pax.

My feeling is that they will tear it down before they extend it!

As the map on this page (http://www.vegastodayandtomorrow.com/condomap.htm) shows, there are three planned extensions: one to Downtown, one to LAS and one along the west side of the Strip. When and if these extensions are completed, the monorail will be of some use to the majority of visitors to Sin City. Currently, it's only useful to those who are both staying at a hotel with a stop and attending an event at the Convention Center.

For better or for worse, I expect the Monorail will become a public/subsidized project to complete the extensions.

One of the problems with Vegas and LAS is that the taxi and limo industry is not going to be able to handle the volume of people arriving at LAS in ten years time. That is why the city is building the monorail. It isn't great, but it's better than 2 hour waits for a taxi.

I just wish they'd run a train from L.A.-even if it took five hours, that'd be more predictable and easier than driving is now.

What annoys me is that (the last time I was there) LAS was listed as part of the MGM stop, so one night I decided to see if that was true. After hopping a couple of fences I wasn't supposed to, I gave up after about a mile and cabbed it the rest of the way.

Personally, unless I'm going more than 3 stops, the Monorail is utterly worthless.

I think the best quick-fix would be to run The Deuce straight to LAS after stopping at NYNY. Right now, it goes all the way to the SSTC(?) then you have to transfer to another bus, bascially taking the long way around the airport.

Stupid taxi lobby.

What annoys me is that (the last time I was there) LAS was listed as part of the MGM stop, so one night I decided to see if that was true. After hopping a couple of fences I wasn't supposed to, I gave up after about a mile and cabbed it the rest of the way.

Personally, unless I'm going more than 3 stops, the Monorail is utterly worthless.

I think the best quick-fix would be to run The Deuce straight to LAS after stopping at NYNY. Right now, it goes all the way to the SSTC(?) then you have to transfer to another bus, bascially taking the long way around the airport.

Stupid taxi lobby.

The main purpose of the Duece is to serve the las vegas strip and downtown. Diverting after NYNY would not serve Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay. How much of the bus traffic is now going to LAS?
I find the connection at SST to be not too bad--you take the 109 North. I can get from say Bellagio to LAS via Duece and 109 in 30 minutes--and I don't have to have a scheduled shuttle bus pick-up, which makes several other stops. From Downtown, 109 and 108 both serve the airport.
If you look down from one of the wings of MGM, you see planes right below you.

Generally, the monorail is a bad deal if you're traveling with a group. You could take a taxi anywhere the monorail goes for less than the price of two monorail tickets. You also won't have to walk all the way through the casino to get to the station.

Why they didn't bring the monorail to the airport in the beginning is a mystery to me. It would probably be worth it to take it and avoid the taxi queue (assuming you're going to a hotel directly adjacent to the monorail).

Stupid taxi lobby.


The taxi lobby is doing what every business interest does: Look out for themselves above all others. They cannot be blamed for decisions about the monorail unless they have an actual direct vote in the process. Ultimately it was some official and/or governmental body that made the call.

The taxi lobby is doing what every business interest does: Look out for themselves above all others. They cannot be blamed for decisions about the monorail unless they have an actual direct vote in the process. Ultimately it was some official and/or governmental body that made the call.

Or the taxi lobby has $$$ :cool:

I just wish they'd run a train from L.A.-even if it took five hours, that'd be more predictable and easier than driving is now.

That would be soooooo sweet! There had been times when I was in LA and wanted to go to Vegas and a train would have been perfect. I wonder how well that would do. I have driven from LA to LAS and some of that road is scary!

That would be soooooo sweet! There had been times when I was in LA and wanted to go to Vegas and a train would have been perfect. I wonder how well that would do. I have driven from LA to LAS and some of that road is scary!

Think TGV.

Also think lobbies and bureaucracies.

All together, and we have no TGV.

Think TGV.

Also think lobbies and bureaucracies.

All together, and we have no TGV.

The building of the TGV is paid for with public funds. I doubt the federal govt. or the states of Nevada and Calif. would come up with funds to pay for a (high speed) line between lv and LA. If somehow one could link "commuter" operations to the project it might work.
PS: I'm sure Calif. would not get involved since people going to lv would dilute tax revenue gambled at their instate casinos.

How could anyone have ever predicted that a monorail wouldn't solve all of a city's problems? (http://www.snpp.com/episodes/9F10.html) :D ;)

I just got this in a message from the billhere service....

Sometime in early 2008, the LAS VEGAS MONORAIL is planning to start
construction of an extension from the MGM GRAND to McCarranAirport. The
extension will run north from the MGM Grand to Harmon, east to Swenson
Street, south to Russell Road and east to the site of McCarran's future
Terminal 3.Monorail stations along the extended route are planned at
the site of the planned "W" ResortHotel on Harmon, at the Hard Rock
Hotel and on Swenson near the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to serve
events at the Thomas & Mack Center. Two stations would be built at
McCarran, one near the planned Terminal 3 and another at Terminal 1 on
the north side of the airport's baggage claim area. Projected
completion date is three years later.