fly4funsea

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.

kingalien

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.

HawaiiTrvlr

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HawaiiTrvlr

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.

Doppy

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.

DMark

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.

slippahs

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...

kingalien

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.

mikey2007

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?

FlyingCarpet

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.

kingalien

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.

kingalien

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.

Doppy

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.

abefroman329

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.

mattkorey

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.