CAT Bus to Downtown: $1.25


In the believe it or not category: I was waiting for the Citizens Area Transit (CAT) bus from the airport to the Downtown Transportation Center one day, when I noticed an Asian couple running to board. This couple looked to be in their sixties, but were wearing LA-style gangsta threads. How interesting, I thought! After some time, I chatted them up. It turns out they were Japanese tourists, from Tokyo. I told them I stayed at a cheap, Shitamachi (downtown) hotel when I visited Tokyo. They told me I was staying in "the slums". (Irony not lost) Anyway...they love gambling, they love Las Vegas and they apparently don't like to part ways with their money in extraneous manners. So, they bus it to downtown and do their thing at El Cortez!, where they're probably comped rooms.

The regular fare is $1.25. I don't find the ride scary or intimidating, however, there will be smelly people and quite possibly crazy people aboard. I believe there are two routes from the airport, and they are both pretty straight shots. Just take the elevators to the Zero Level of the parking garage and walk angle right when you exit to outside. CAT bus website.