Interesting Monorail article

http://n.accessvegas.com/g52Os2uZ860A

 

Interesting indeed....I personally think they should run the Monorail out to the airport. I have to believe this would exponentially increase revenue.

 

I really don't see why some people have this need to poo-poo the Monorail! I find it to be handy. (If you don't like it, don't ride it! DUH!)

Extending to McCarran is a no-brainer, but the taxi industry is very powerful.

Ditto for extending it downtown.

Now if they would only bring back the multi-ride discount ticket!

 

Yeah, I think a downtown and airport link is inevitable, it will just take a while. Good point about the Taxi lobby. I love the monorail, but an airport link would be sweet.

 

Some cool ideas in the article, but I don't see it coming together. I don't see the necessary stakeholders jumping into something that already failed once. LVS in particular has shot this down before.

 

The problem is this: The guys who built convention centers as part of their hotel/casino projects did it in part to get more hotel business. Conventioneers end up paying a premium to be in the hotel closest to their convention site so they aren't dealing with traffic and parking. A monorail stop would make it way to easy for someone to stay elsewhere. Sands and MGM aren't going to help you take business away from them.

A more realistic idea would be to try and get the monorail extended to downtown. With the revitalization, downtown should start seeing even greater demand for tourists. But until there is a light rail system designed to transport locals and tourists, I don't think there will be the type of investment needed to do a useful expansion. I like the monorail too but when the rate started flying up, I learned to depend on other ways to get around.

 

I also think the most viable option would be to extend it to downtown. The taxi lobby is never going to allow the monorail to be extended to the airport. Since the monorail only serves hotels on one side of the strip, I do not think the airport expansion would be the boon that people think. With many of the monorails stations being located at the extreme rear of most hotel properties, the idea of me having to walk a quarter of a mile, while pulling my luggage, just to get to hotel check in, is not the way I would want to start my Vegas vacation. What do I gain by using the monorail from the airport?

Also, how many people would use the monorail from the airport if their hotel does not have a monorail station?

An extension to downtown would be the best way for the monorail to go.

 

I doubt the strip operators want to see the monorail extended downtown.

 

I'm mentally comparing the extended LV Monorail with other "Train To Plane" situations I'm familiar with, such as both Chicago airports and JFK and EWR in the NYC area. Only one of the hotels I regularly stay at (Hilton Garden in Chicago) has anything that I would consider "A station at the hotel", so yes, I'm very familiar with schlepping a roll-around a few (or a few too many) blocks.

The current Monorail, if extended to McCarran, would put me within a walk of a few city blocks from any of the hotels I usually stay at in Las Vegas. I would consider it to be more convenient than any of the above options except maybe Midway to the Hilton Garden, which does involve one transfer, but an easy one.

The Monorail to the Strip hotels would obviously be more convenient than O'Hare to most of the downtown or River North hotels, faster and more convenient than the Airtrain/subway from JFK and far more convenient than any path you can take (pun semi-intended) from EWR.

Assuming the Monorail would run at the same frequency it does now, it would be faster than a taxi or shuttle.

 

If people like taxis, they will take taxis. If people like limos, they will take limos. If people like shuttles and buses, they will take..........the monorail (if it went to LAS).

 

I doubt they do either but I don't see it as a loss for them. It would give people looking for a budget room one more reason to stay downtown as the strip would be more accessible. Most strip places really don't want to compete for that business and the ones that do have no juice. I don't only see people using it to get downtown but also to get to the strip. It should balance out. But for it to work, the city itself would need to take an interest in it. That would probably cancel some of the casinos' power in the matter.

 

I think more people would leave the strip for DT's cheap gambling. But you never know, right?

 

^Pop, Yes! Soooooooooooo yes!

 

The taxi industry runs more of Vegas than any of us know! Seriously!

Ideally, the monorail would start at McCarran, run straight up the Strip via the middle of the Blvd. (elevated) with stations between every other property and/or at major intersections (one station can access 4+ casinos: a station at LVB and Tropicana for instance would service MGM, Trop, Excal, NYNY and maybe even MC). It would continue past The STRAT , and terminate Downtown:

1) McCarran Airport
2) Mand Bay, Luxor, SkyVue
3) MGM, Trop, Excal, NYNY, MC
4) City Center, Cosmo, PH
5) Bellagio, Ballys, Paris, Bills
6) Caesars, Flamingo, IP, Harrahs, Linq
7) Mirage, TI, Venetian, Palazzo
8) Wynn, Encore, Fashion Show Mall, future Frontier
9) Riviera, Circus Circus, future Fontaine Bleau
10) Strat, future Sahara
11) Downtown

Of course, that will never happen, but it would be ideal!

 

Monorail

I think extending it to downtown is a no-brainer. I would be happy to avoid the 15-20 dollar cab ride each way.

 

Whenever I go downtown I take the faster bus. If given the choice between the bus & the monorail, I'd choose the monorail every time. I think it would be faster. Won't have to worry about traffic. I've used the monorail every trip so far & plan on using it again for my next trip in about two weeks. I always get a three day pass.

xman30

 

It was my impression that the current route was decided upon for two reasons.

First the then-extant section between Bally's and MGM, and second the path of least opposition the rest of the way, avoiding Venetian, of course.

 

I couldn't agree with this more. Running elevated down the middle of the strip would have been ideal. Then it's not a long hike for people and it's easy for people on both sides of the strip. Not to mention down the middle of the strip would also make it visible to people instead of hidden all the way behind the hotels. I'd bet that many first timers, who don't really research before coming to Vegas even know that there's a monorail back there.

Seeing as how the middle of the Strip won't ever happen, I would like to see it extended to the airport. I think there it has the most potential to make money but like everyone has said the taxi lobby isn't going to allow that anytime soon.

 

Ugh, that sounds terrible. Would ruin a good many strip views. And a monorail in the middle of the strip means stations in the middle of the strip. Not a lot of space for that.

The monorail doesn't have to get you 10 feet from your destination to be useful. If it touched the airport and had one fremont stop that would be more than enough to make it awesome.

 

Just by the number of people that play 8/5 Jacks or Better or 6/5 blackjack on The Strip is probably a sign that a lot of people wouldn't head downtown even if they knew gambling conditions were better.