About a year ago, this post noted the boondoggle status of Las Vegas’ then new $650 million, 4.4 mile monorail project. As is typical with such boondoggles, passage of time does not make the problem any better:
Donna Washington loves riding the Las Vegas Monorail, but not for a reason that would cheer its owners.
ìIn my town, the trains are always jam-packed, so itís nice to have a train car to myself here,î said Ms. Washington, 44, a Chicagoan vacationing here. ìI do wonder, though, where all the people are.î[. . .]
. . . ridership numbers for the Disney-inspired system, which stops at nine hotel-casinos and the Las Vegas Convention Center, are falling amid a lackluster marketing campaign, technical problems and revenues so far below projections that Wall Street fears that a default on its bonds could occur by the end of the decade.
December was the monorailís worst month, with 18,197 riders per day, far below the 53,000 predicted by studies used to sell the bonds to investors and to persuade public officials to give up public right of way. Despite a management shakeup in mid-2005 that purged the company of its founding executives, the systemís average ridership plunged 31 percent in 2006, to 19,219 per day.
The companyís new chief executive, Curtis L. Myles III, said that drop was somewhat anticipated after fares were raised in December 2005 to $5 a ride from $3. That move increased revenues by 4 percent, to $31.4 million for the year, still far short of the $44.9 million needed to break even. The total cost of the system per year is about $61 million; the monorail receives about $16 million in advertising revenues from companies like Sprint, which is about to start providing wireless Internet access on the trains and has a 15,000-square-foot store at the convention center stop.
Mr. Myles acknowledged in an interview that the companyís cash reserves, estimated by Fitch at about $89 million, would run dry by 2010 if revenues did not improve. To break even, he said, the monorail would need to increase ridership by about 50 percent.
And can you guess the Las Vegas Monorail Company’s proposed solution? Of course, double-down on the monorail bet — a $500 million expansion!
Read the entire article. And yes, a similar thing could happen here.
Mewanwhile, last time I was in Vegas (about 3 weeks ago), the taxi line at the airport was half a mile long (onc e of those disney style serpantine lines created by tensa-barriers. 147 paces from end to end, approx 3 feet per pace, 7 rows deep. Right at about 3100 feet or 3/5 mile).
The ride from the airport to the hotel on the strip – $25 with tip.
Bottom line – there is clearly demand for mass transportation from one high density location to another such location in Vegas. Why wasn’t it built? Probably because the taxi drivers had enough political clout to make sure that a solution that is demanded and would help reduce traffic as well as pollution must not be allowed to be advanced (its a very American approach to such issues).
Mass transportation proponents in Vegas are correct in their belief that there is sufficient demand to support such a system. It simply is not being offered because the city fathers considered politics to be more important than civic leadership.
I also recently was in Las Vegas – over SuperBowl weekend (won Indy on the money line, lost Chicago + the points).
During my cab ride to the hotel, I asked my cabbie about the monorail. He confirmed that few people ride it, but he blamed the inconvenient boarding and departure stops (far away from the casinos proper) and the cost ($4.50 for a single trip ticket, $20 for a 24hr pass).
I asked about the planned expansion of the line down to McCarran Airport. He told me that most of the cabbies favored this, as they did not like to pick up fares at the airport, due to the long line they had to wait in (them too).
If they can ever get the line from the airport to the strip completed, I think that ridership will increase significantly, especially for people traveling alone or with only one other person. More folks than that and the cab becomes more cost effecient.
BTW, on my frequent “business” trips to Vegas, I have been consistently impressed at how efficiently the folks at McCarran move the large volume of people through the cab line there.
Charles, I don’t know all that much about Vegas mass transit needs. I agree with you and Bob that some type of mass transit from the airport to the Strip casinos is necessary. However, I have grave doubts that spending a billion dollars on an inflexible monorail that is expensive to maintain and modify to address shifting needs is the most cost effective mass transit solution for a low-density population area such as Las Vegas.
Tom,
When people come to Vegas, they come to visit the strip, drink and gamble. They fly in, stay within narrowly defined area and generally don’t want to or need to pay to rent a car.
The place is almost perfect for an intelligently designed rail system with certain cars heading from the airport to dedicated hotels (VERY doable if you have a main line, exits to hotel stations and also allow cars to merge from hotel spurs to the main line).
One problem in Houston with the light rail is that it is a two trace system at grade as opposed to a four trace system that would allow for a local line and an express line. Personally, I have no problem taking light rail. What i have no interest in, however, is travelling more that the 6 miles from downtown to Reliant at a max speed of 25 and an average speed of less that 15mph. Any more than that and the advantage of not having to pay for parking and being dropped off at close proximity have ZERO appeal.
In Vegas, it is a matter of offering a solution to the city’s needs. Move the tourists from the airport to the strip quickly, keep the tourists and their taxis from clogging up the highways and bothering the locals and don’t be afraid to charge $6.50/ ticket.
As for Houston, give us an express train or forget it. I’m not riding from Downtown to Katy Mills and back at an average of 15mph unless I have the comfort of my own car.
Given that 90% of the Las Vegas monorail system was funded by private money, that’s quite a feat in itself. And given that there will never be a tax commitment by the citizens of Las Vegas on the monorail, getting the second and third parts of the project finished is crucial to the future of the system.
The second part will extend the monorail out to McCarran International and the third segment will eventually extend the system to downtown. County commissioners voted in early December to proceed with the extension to the airport.
When the airport extension happens, I’ll be more than happy to use the system. Echoing the gentleman who took a cab during his last visit – a cab ride from McCarran to the Monte Carlo was $25 bucks before tip. Of course, that was in traffic on a Saturday night.
Later in the week, a cab ride from the Hilton to the airport – at 4:30 a.m. with absolutely NO traffic – was still a $20 bill with tip.
It’s obvious the monorail system isn’t doing well or the price of a cab in Las Vegas would be similar to what it was 20 years ago when Las Vegas was one of the cheapest cities in the nation for cab fares.
The current monorail has not delivered as promised, and now they want to extend it in the wrong direction. If the monorail was to be extended to downtown it would be a success, but going to McCarran Airport and Thomas and Mack will be a huge failure.
This is good news for cab drivers, because it won’t hurt their business, just like the current monorail doesn’t. It is also good news for contractors and friends of politicians. Unfortunately, it is bad for Las Vegas, and won’t even put a dent in the airport problem.
There are an average of 8600 taxi pick-ups a day at McCarran Airport, besides all the shuttles and limos. The airport has only been able to load a maximum 30 taxis at a time for a decade. That translates to about 900 taxis per hour, or 1800 passengers per hour. During most times when passengers have to wait for an hour or more in line to get a taxi at the airport, the cab drivers are waiting over 20 minutes to get a ride. This is because there is not enough space and manpower at the airport to load more taxis, even when there are over 100 empty taxis waiting for fares. Instead of spending another $500 million extending the monorail to the airport, why not spend a fraction of that to double the taxi-loading capacity and shuttle-loading area at the airport?
Going downtown was supposed to be the next phase when the monorail was built, but I suspect that strip hotels are blocking that idea. The monorail should go downtown! That would work. No luggage, just people having fun. Because of the distance, people could actually save money over taking a cab. Downtown is 24 hours a day, unlike the airport and the Las Vegas Convention Center. If I was at MGM or Ballys, and wanted to get downtown, I would take the monorail if it went downtown. Even a group of 4 people can save money and get there without getting stuck in traffic.