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 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.

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).

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 $$$

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.

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?

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.