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Hardly Anyone Wants to Ride the Las Vegas Monorail (vice.com)
Motherboard describes riding the Las Vegas monorail in 2008. "I was literally the only person on a train built to carry 222 people," arguing that "the tale of the Las Vegas monorail is an allegory for almost every other monorail that exists on this planet." An anonymous reader quotes their new report:
Las Vegas has struggled to deliver on its monorail promise since the 3.9-mile track opened in 2004. The track runs parallel to the Strip -- behind all the massive, block-wide hotels. When the project was first proposed, promoters hoped to bring upwards of 20 million riders a year. In 2016, just 4.9 million monorail rides were taken. For reference, nearly 43 million people visited Las Vegas last year, according to the city's visitor bureau, and the city has a population of about 632,000.
In 2010, the not-for-profit company in charge, named Las Vegas Monorail, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to repay $650 million in construction loans. (It exited bankruptcy proceedings two years later.) But in true Las Vegas style, instead of taking the loss and heading home with its tail tucked between its legs, the company is doubling down. Now it's anticipating spending an additional $100 million in private financing to extend the monorail from the MGM Grand to Mandalay Bay -- a distance of less than a mile by foot. The company also asked the county to give it $4.5 million of public funds a year for 30 years to support the extension.
A Las Vegas newspaper got a succinct appraisal of the extended monorail's prospects from the director of USC's Transportation Engineering program: "I'm glad it's not my money." Next year ticket sales are expected to bring in just $21.4 million -- "the lowest amount since 2014" -- with the Monorail Co. blaming "additional competition" from Uber and Lyft.
But Motherboard argues that it's not just a Las Vegas problem. "In most cities where monorails exist, most people can't figure out what they're good for. In Mumbai, India, a three-year-old monorail does just 17,000 daily rides -- significantly short of the 125,000 to 300,000 passengers per day planners and backers anticipated."
In 2010, the not-for-profit company in charge, named Las Vegas Monorail, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to repay $650 million in construction loans. (It exited bankruptcy proceedings two years later.) But in true Las Vegas style, instead of taking the loss and heading home with its tail tucked between its legs, the company is doubling down. Now it's anticipating spending an additional $100 million in private financing to extend the monorail from the MGM Grand to Mandalay Bay -- a distance of less than a mile by foot. The company also asked the county to give it $4.5 million of public funds a year for 30 years to support the extension.
A Las Vegas newspaper got a succinct appraisal of the extended monorail's prospects from the director of USC's Transportation Engineering program: "I'm glad it's not my money." Next year ticket sales are expected to bring in just $21.4 million -- "the lowest amount since 2014" -- with the Monorail Co. blaming "additional competition" from Uber and Lyft.
But Motherboard argues that it's not just a Las Vegas problem. "In most cities where monorails exist, most people can't figure out what they're good for. In Mumbai, India, a three-year-old monorail does just 17,000 daily rides -- significantly short of the 125,000 to 300,000 passengers per day planners and backers anticipated."
..By half the country, years ago. Not the half anyone listens to though.
Insert 20 year old Simpsons monorail sketch
Insert thread of people quoting it one line at a time, each modded up to +5 funny
Sorry mom the mob has spoken.
Sigh.
You have to actually make a monorail do something for which there is no alternative transportation. The Vancouver Skytrain is actually the most efficient way to get across the city, so they get 117.4 million passengers in 2010 and 137.4 million in 2016.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
As in all things the Simpsons have already covered this issue:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDOI0cq6GZM
Shared transit benefits society in hundreds of ways..but if you prefer to sit in a Taxi stuck in rush hour traffic, be my guest.
People have no trouble figuring out "what monorails are good for." Since they refused to run it to the airport, which would be easier than running it to Mandalay Bay, the project was doomed from the start. What people can't figure out is what the people who design these billion dollar projects are good for.
When I was in Vegas it was almost always further to walk to and from the monorail than it was to just walk down the strip to where you wanted to go. It needed to be build on the strip, not behind the resorts.
Understand that Vice is based in Brooklyn, NY.
In Las Vegas, there is no issue with owning or parking privately owned cars. Like most of the US, people here own cars and don't need to rely on public transportation.
Please stop assuming that ****EVERY PLACE**** is ****EXACTLY**** like New York or San Francisco. Because ****IT'S NOT****.
I visited Vegas a couple of years ago, and the monorail was expensive, well hidden, and didn't go anywhere useful.
I don't think any of the potential passengers are likely anti-mono-rail, they just want to be taken somewhere useful for a reasonable price. They don't want to walk a block out of their way (and then a block back) to pay a ton of money, to take a trip that would have been faster to walk anyway.
This is a common problem with the "build it and they will come" mentality. Sometimes you have to build it somewhere people want to be...
Stereorails are what's needed.
(Someone had to say it).
It might have done better if they actually made it go someplace useful, like the airport. But they couldn't do that because they have to protect the taxicabs.
Just ask anyone from Ogdenville, North Haverbrook, or Brockway.
They destroyed the utility of this monorail by designing it so that many of the stations are at the BACK of the hotels. This forces people to take extremely long walks through the casinos to get to and from the station.
The transportation services that people actually use are accessed from the hotel lobby.
Make stupid station choices, get stupidly low ridership.
They just aren't Vegas enough yet. Add bars, slots and strippers until the train is profitable.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
I've been to Vegas three times for weekends, and I never even knew they HAD a monorail. Maybe they should advertise it.
Then again, I probably wouldn't use it, half the fun of Vegas is walking down the strip, or looking at it from a taxi. If the monorail is behind the strip, where's the fun in that?
I actually rode it, earlier this year. Three times, no less. I appreciated getting away from the crowds for a moment, so it is certainly good for something.
They need to build it to the airport and build something around it, like a Disney resort.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
For me it was fine
Of course people have good ideals, but they apply them in the wrong place. Obviously having a mono rail service in Vegas is clearly not a place where it can be used, or people want to use it. Sort of sad, that they spent that much money for such a short distance rail service? Its a perfect example of brilliance and stupidity working at the same time.
I used the monorail once when I was at CES. Happily there is a monorail stop right outside the convention, that part works pretty well.
But the other stops are all nuts. You have to long a long ways out of the terminals and THEN you are dumped right into the casino of whichever hotel you stopped at. It makes for a super horrible walking experience and really makes you think twice about ever taking the thing, when you could just walk along the road and almost be there quicker for most stops.
Perhaps it could still be a good idea if they provided quicker egress (I seem to remember a few places you could get on without going through a casino, just not off).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The monorail is nice, I've used it several times. Last time we stayed in an airbnb at the very north end of the monorail.
However, the solution to the problem is obvious. Extend it to the airport.
(The reason that doesn't happen is that Vegas doesn't want to anger all the cab drivers ... )
it's in my head
Screw that, the airport is ON the strip, the terminal should be on the other side of the runway and nobody would need ANY transportation to/from it!
But you have to protect that taxi lobby...
The funny (sad) part is that the private terminal that the wealthy fly in/out of *IS* on the strip side, but those people take limos to/from the airport and wouldn't walk anyway.
My father, who was a traffic engineer, liked to point out that it doesn't go to where it would get the most traffic: Either to the airport (which is not very far from one end of it), or the Downtown area (which has its own struggles, but easier transport might solve some of them). I assume the airport issue has to do with Taxi company protests, perhaps.
Somehow the taxi union managed to stop it from going all the way to the airport as planned.
Other than that I can say that the thing is packed during CES and could use much more frequent traffic at that time.
So the issue might be domestic attitude towards public transportation versus international.
It seems from a basic design point that two rails should be easier, cheaper, and faster to build, while being safer.
I can think of very few situations where balancing a train on a single rail is a better design decision than using two rails.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
By the time you walk to the station, you might as well have just walked to your destination, they're so far back. And it's expensive on top of it. At least the one on the east side. It's a complete waste.
There's a free monorail on the West side of the strip, but it only travels between a few hotels (Monte Carlo to the Bellagio). That's the only one that makes sense to use.
They need just one monorail, going down the center of the strip, with "bridge" stops that let you get off on either side. Hell, I'd even buy a travel pass for that. I'd ride it just for the scenery.
Not quite the same, but the London DLR (Docklands Light Railway) carries 120 million passengers per year. In many sections it is very much like a monorail, and has a driverless automated control.
Public transportation needs proper planning not being subverted by corporate interests.
Make the ride free, and throw in a free beer/cheap cocktail, and a couple of random coloured chips.
Oh, and don't forget the blackjack and hookers!
Problem solved.
Doesn't anyone know how to run a fucking railroad anymore?
needs to go to the airport and cut the fair
I visit Vegas 2-3 times per year, and usually ride the monorail a few times. I agree with all the posters here saying that it's not useful because it's in the back of the casinos - it would certainly be better if it was elevated over the strip. They should have decided 20 years ago to close off the strip to cars (between Tropicana, where MGM/NYNY/Excalibur/Tropicana are, and Sahara, where SLS and Stratosphere are) and put the monorail there.
That said, it's still VERY useful for traveling any sort of distances, especially if you're a hotel guest at one monorail resort, and are traveling to the convention center or the Linq Promenade). I still walk a lot in Vegas, but know when to use the monorail. That "last mile" to Mandalay is really annoying to get to from the last monorail stop at MGM - you have to cross Tropicana and LV Blvd, and it's all exposed/outdoors, unlike some of the walkways further north on the strip. It should go there, then to the airport.
They should have named it quadro-rail. Very incorrect, but with better marketing.
Or maybe, septra-rail.
Mono-rail just does not sound good. Gives a vibe of existential loneliness or an unpleasant disease.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
The summary makes it sound like all such public rail systems are doomed to fail, but it really matters whether the rail system makes it easier/faster to get around. Vancouver has a pretty decent and thriving rail system. In Calgary the rail cars are packed twice a day for hours during rush traffic with more people waiting for the next train to come. It's because these are often the fastest, easiest wys to get from one side of the city (or downtown) to the other. The trains come often, they're easy to use. They're not exactly a pleasant experience, but better than alternatives such as walking, buses or taxi.
Extend the monorail to the airport and maybe it might actually get some use...
But that will never happen because the greedy taxi and limo drivers wont let it happen.
*And over to your left, you can see the service entrance and the dumpsters of the famous Planet Hollywood.. And to your right.. Oh dear! Somebody just got shot!*
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Right now, it's :
- only in limited hotels
- is no where you can actually see it - you have to hunt for it
- goes no where useful like the airport/downtown/other end of the strip
- you get lost going to or from the station
- competes with several useless trams that visit 2 or 3 hotels of the same chain and are also frequently empty but confuse the situation
- almost impossible to find as there's little incentive for hotels to show you the way to it
If they placed the monorail above the center of the strip and ran it from the airport to downtown and made easy access to the hotels, it would be packed. Right now walking the strip is interesting, but painfully slow as getting through intersections requires an escalator raid up over and down the other side. Half the time the escalator is broken. I'd gladly pay the price of a monorail to get to where-ever our group is going. The problem is the hotels and taxi lobbies torpedoed anything useful.
Really? That seems a bit suspect. A lot monorails in the US have failed, but in other countries, maybe they've done better.
The Tokyo Monorail has a daily ridership of ~300,000 people, or ~2.1 million per week. Times 52, that's over 100 million people each year.
The Chiba Urban Monorail has ~45,000 rides per day or 315,000 per week. That's 16 million per year.
There is already a tram from Excalibur (kitty corner to MGM Grand) to Mandalay Bay, and it's free, and it's actually on the Strip, not in the back alley like the Monorail. They screwed up by charging too much and not actually running it along the Strip.
Well, how public transportation using something similar to a modern monorail can be looked at in Wuppertal, Germany.
It's in operation since more than 100 years and had almost no accidents in that time (well an elephant from a circus fell into the river Wupper in the 20's)
YVR (which I've been on as well) is a really great monorail because it connects two places tons of travelers will be going to or from - cruiser terminal, and airport.
In Vegas you have a situation where people want to go all over the place. Some may want to go to the convention center, but they also want to go where they are staying - which could be anywhere. In recent years lots of people like the older downtown vegas area which I don't think the monorail even reaches.
I think when you have a situation like that a monorail is not going to be a cost effective way to move people around.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Sydney recently decommissioned its always unpopular monorail, after 40 years of use. It did a lateral loop of the city above the road, while the trains did a perpendicular loop of the city beneath the road. It was expensive and unlike the trains, didn't go anywhere else.
I was in Vegas last week staying at MGM and used the monorail to get to the Paris and Linq areas. Vegas was packed as hell but barely anyone was riding the monorail. Worked great for us. It was stupid of them to not make it go to Fremont street. If it ended there instead of the SLS it would be making bank.
If it ran from the airport to the strip it would be the most heavily trafficked monorail in the world. But, no. Instead of building the transportation system they really needed, they build a monorail track to nowhere.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
The final Monorail stop is approximately one mile from McCarran Airport, the main Las Vegas Airport. That last mile by taxi is around $20 bucks, by Lyft it is around $12. The monorail is a fixed $5 for the whole line. (local residents pay $1)
(guess here) 75% of the patrons in Las Vegas fly into McCarran Airport. If the Las Vegas Monorail were extended that last mile to the McCarran Airport it's ridership would quadruple.
Nobody, NOBODY! wants the Monorail to succeed. All the hospitality vested interests have no cake in the game of helping the monorail.
It is the easiest bet in Vegas, build the last mile to McCarran and ridership will become meaningful.
I took it last month on a short Vegas vacation. It's clean, fun, dependable, and very user unfriendly. One must repeatedly ask, and dig and dig to indentify a monorail station location. They are buried far away from the eyes of those customers, who the hospitality industry desperately need to stay put.
Thats the only time I've taken it. And it wasn't my choice to stay there.
The funny thing about the Disneyland Monorail... it was a great way to get away from the crowds on a hot day. Except for Opening, Closing, and Lunch, for the old Hotel Guests, it was barely used.
Of course, you couldn't smoke weed in one. That was what the Death Buckets were for.
1. It's slow
2. It doesn't go anywhere other than the strip
3. Uber and Lyft competing with the monorail is absolute pure quill bull shit. I was in LV as a stopover for where I was going, and you could not get a cab - period.
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
Anyone looking at the route map:
https://www.lvmonorail.com/route-map/
Looks designed to fail to me. No station in the airport? None near the arena? Three quarters of the hotels / casinos not served? And a route that misses most of the neon down the Strip? Who would have guessed that it would fail?
While the distance is a big factor, the cost is more of a factor. I am giving my money to the casinos, to the taxi drivers, to the restaurants (forget low-cost meals these days), in tips,for Wi-Fi in some hotels (the most expensive) and pay a LOT for the shows. And they now want me to PAY for a horizontal transit device to get to all these places to spend my money? Are they going to charge for vertical travel next? $2 to go up in the elevator?
A long walk behind the hotel and a fee is not a good deal for me.
It was about serving casinos. Because that's what Vegas is about (I learned a lot when I lived there). Basically, if you understand a carnival midway, you understand the strip.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Thereâ(TM)s talk to move an hockey team to LV. Not sure many people are gonna travel to LV to spend a night at the arena to watch probably a bad hockey team.
https://slashdot.org/~fluffernutter observed:
You have to actually make a monorail do something for which there is no alternative transportation. The Vancouver Skytrain is actually the most efficient way to get across the city, so they get 117.4 million passengers in 2010 and 137.4 million in 2016.
We lived in Vegas when the monorail was built. There was, as you might imagine, a lot of coverage of the proposal, the construction of the track, and the grand opening of the line.
Of course, the coverage by the major dailies and the local media was mostly of the cheerleading kind. The alternative weeklies did a better job, but it didn't keep the deal with the Clark County supervisors from being made mostly behind closed doors. (The Strip, proper, lies entirely outside the City of Las Vegas, so the Vegas city planning commission, city council, and mayor had no seat at the table.)
What it boiled down to was that a private, non-profit (!) corporation formed by the casinos where the train actually has stations floated the bond for design and construction, with the voters on the hook to repay it - a typical Vegas klind of backscratching deal. If you didn't kick in, you didn't get to take advantage of the monorail traffic. Of course, since it was the big casinos financing it, one of the conditions they imposed was that it run behind them, so that patrons would have to walk through the gaming floor of each stop on their way to and from the train.
McCarren International Airport management took one look at the proposal and said, "No, thanks.". (It would have required McCarren to donate, get permits for, and clear the land across which the track would run, and build a terminal station, too - all at no expense to the hotel-casino operators who would gain the only real benefit from it. I thought McCarren's decision showed surprising common sense, under the circumstances.)
So that's why it doesn't run to the airport - or to the actual Strip - or stop at more than a handful of big casino properties. And, likewise, that's why it's an abysmal failure.
Vegas, baby ...
Check out my novel.
Big cities install monorail to make an sort of an urban architecture/style statement rather than something that people need or something that can pay off for itself (Look at us, we can spend a billion dollars on a useless but very pretty monorail).
This reminds me that useless half billion dollar 3-mile monorail connection from the Oakland BART station to the Oakland airport. For decades, the AirBART bus ferried people between those destinations incredibly cheaply (just 2USD) and very fast, 24 hours a day. It had to be replaced with a half billion dollar monorail, why? To be cheaper? To go faster? No.
The biggest problem is that it's a monorail to nowhere. If it was extended all the way to somewhere useful (like the airport) then I suspect people would use it.
They need to run it to and from the airport. That will kick it into gear.
Iconic AirTrain, connecting JFK to NYC subway system as well as to LIRR (Long Island Railways) It connects at two points. It is expensive, $5 for a short ride. However, convenience wise it is a really nice option to have it. The answer is .... the famous network effect. Connect Las Vegas Monorail to the Airport and enjoy the popularity.
I've lived hear nearly 30 yards, and the monorail was a stupid idea from the start.
The *only* way it would have or ever will make sense is if it went to the airport. The taxi companies have raised a ruckus whenever that has been suggested.
The stupid thing goes to the convention center and half a dozen participating hotels; it is nothing more than an attempt to lockin conventioneers to that set of hotels. Any expansion will just be more of the same.
Now, if you built something that went to the airport, the length of the strip, and downtown, it would be useful. But that's just not in the cards.
AFAIK, the only thing its ever done right is to escrow demolition funds when it was first built.
And now similar geniuses want to build a high speed train from Vegas to . . . Victorville. OK, other dumb ends have been proposed, but anything other than San Diego, LA, or *maybe* someplace in Orange county is back to just plain dumb. LA or San Diego without stops could actually make sense, as a 200mph run would take less time than dealing with two airports. But drive 100 miles to Victorville to catch a train to vegas??? Or take a train from vegas and, what, walk to LA
hawk
It doesn’t start at the airport, which is exactly where every potential customer for a transit link wants to get on it. And instead of bulleting down the center of the Strip, it weaves around the back of the hotels. Because it crosses the Strip in perhaps two places, it’s easy for people to forget that it exists.
those could also describe the number of stops. . . :)
hawk
Strip guests spend something like $1k per day on average, counting food, room and entertainment. Who the fuck is burning $1k a day and wants to take mass transit?
The problem with the monorail is that it was designed as spectacle, not as transit, yet even as spectacle it fails because it's so out of the way that most people never even stumble across it, and if you do take it, all you see are the backs of hotels. It's even priced as spectacle. $2.75 gets you anywhere in New York City via the subway and bus, but it costs $5 to take the monorail just to go 4 miles along the backs of casinos in Las Vegas.
The monorail should have been built in the middle of the Strip. The Strip is a dystopian nightmare highway bifurcating one of the most walked streets in the United States. It's so dangerous that in many places there aren't even any at-grade pedestrian crossings; you have to go up stairs/escalators set back from the strip, go across a bridge, and then back down, often being forced to detour through one or two casinos in the process. It's the ultimate triumph of automobiles over people for no goddamn reason at all.
The mass transit should have been run right down the middle of the Strip. Instead it was forced to the margins where it remains unused, when it was really the car traffic that should have been forced to the margins. Las Vegas should do a NYC-style "Summer Streets" a few times per year and entirely close down the Strip to car traffic for half a day and let pedestrians use it as they'd like, like Mardi Gras. Then people would realize what they've been missing.
Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
I rode the monorail from MGM Grand to the Hilton (now Westgate Las Vegas) the first time I visited Las Vegas, to check out the Star Trek Experience. Now with the STE closed I see no reason to ride it again.
Expensive, not very scenic and now a road to nowhere.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
The monorail in Vegas does NOT go to the airport.
What the fuck is wrong with those people? Austin did the same God Damned stupid thing with their stupid fucking train. It goes from waay north to downtown but not to the airport.
What were those morons thinking?
"Hmm...we have people at the airport who want to go to the Strip/Downtown and we have people who are on the Strip/Downtown and they want to go to the Airport.
So let's fucking build a monorail/train that doesn't go to the airport!"
What.
The.
Fuck?
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
You have to actually make a monorail do something for which there is no alternative transportation.
I'm in the minority and found the monorail useful. Stay at cheap casino on strip and take monorail to the casino on strip you really want to be at. Especially in summer where walking isn't much of an option. :-)
Moving the terminals is impractical, but they could provide direct routes with people movers. But the hotel/casinos want the foot traffic through the casino. You have to walk through the casino to get to the taxi stops or street as well. So the best that's doable is probably to add people movers to get you between terminal and casino quickly.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
So its primary appeal was that nobody uses it. A few moments' thought may show you the problems with that as a business model.
If they added routes that would take you to the front of the casino, plenty would go right inside - they could have a path leading into the casino, and a part directly to the street. As it is they get very little foot traffic from the rail because few are using it, so if they made the whole system more usable with more riders, they would probably get a higher percentage of people coming in even with the option not to.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
People who benefit from the current order of graft don't like change to the current order. Weird.
For the majority of riders, you have to walk almost as far getting to and from the monorail as you would if you just walked to where you were going. If they'd pulled an Ocean's 13 and tunneled under LVB, then it would get much more usage.
If the monorail ran along the strip and to the airport, I'd use it whenever I visited. Instead it runs WAY in the back of the hotels behind the casino - its almost never the quickest /easiest way to get anywhere.
Considering its route, I don't know who they expected would ever use it.
Go to Orlando and watch how fast they can empty the part at closing. The monorail odes a great job. I also notice that it does not create a lot of noise like above ground trains do. The potential for overhead monorails in large areas like south Florida is enormous. In essence we have a suburb roughly 150 miles long and the joy of monorails is that they can be stacked layer upon layer and not disrupt ground traffic.
A recent high-school romance anime titled Just Because! heavily featured the Ofuna Shonan-Enoshima Monorail located in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture just south of Tokyo.
(I think the main rationale for monorail in Japan is their schoolgirls wear seifuku, i.e. sailor blouse + mini skirt, so when they exit the train there is a possibility of gaining highly educational insight, provided you are strategically pre-positioned on the ground near the platform.)
I can't believe no one has mentioned this yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDOI0cq6GZM&ab_channel=saveourspit
It couldn't be clearer than this!
Going on 60 years. Zero mass transport from the nation's capital. Just added a shuttle from airport to the nearest metro stop. That stop is also a relatively new addition.
The good part, is that the planners, left *room* in the middle of the highway that connects to DC, for the rail. So save a section through and near the airport which is elevated, the majority of the track is at grade.
Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
Like a genuine, bona fide
Electrified, six-car monorail
What'd I say?
Monorail
What's it called?
Monorail
That's right! Monorail
Monorail
Monorail
Monorail
I hear those things are awfully loud
It glides as softly as a cloud
Is there a chance the track could bend?
Not on your life, my Hindu friend
What about us brain-dead slobs?
You'll be given cushy jobs
Were you sent here by the Devil?
No, good sir, I'm on the level
The ring came off my pudding can
Take my pen knife, my good man
I swear it's Springfield's only choice
Throw up your hands and raise your voice
Monorail
What's it called?
Monorail
Once again
Monorail
But Main Street's still all cracked and broken
Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken
Monorail!
Monorail!
Monorail!
Monorail!
Mono, d'oh!
... has a monorail, goes around downtown without going anywhere useful (except a casino). Doesn't go the 15 miles to the airport.
I guess there's a trend there.
I went to las vegas and didn't even realise there was a monorail...
Given the route it's not surprising, why go through a casino to the back and pay to get on the monorail when you could just walk along the strip or through the casinos?
If you've going to pay, you could just take a taxi along the strip instead.
If the monorail ran along the strip it would be more visible to tourists and get more users. Where it is currently, many visitors have no idea it even exists.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
For journeys to airports, I see people carry around 10 times the luggage on an average than they carry for other commutes / journeys within the city. To accommodate luggage that takes much more space than interstitial space between human beings, the design of the interior of the local transport needs to be vastly different.
If you design all transport to accommodate luggage, it wastes space. If you don't design the airport transport to accommodate luggage, it might get too crowded to carry luggage while mounting and disembarking from the transit. If you design only the transit serving the airport to accommodate luggage - that is difficult to do as the idea of the transit is to serve multiple purposes in a unified manner.
Do you see any solution for carrying luggage other than over-designing ?
Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
Exactly right green1. You described all the problems I was going share.
Compare this with the monorail in Dubai. It goes to and from the airport. It connects to all the major hotels/malls.
It is packed to the hilt during rush hours with workers because it is... shockingly... inexpensive.
Las Vegas and others can learn a lot from the Dubai design.
If they do, it's not very well advertised.
The Las Vegas monorail is largely pointless. Most people on the strip want to walk on the strip, not bypass it on a stupid train.
i was in Vegas a few months ago, used the monorail a lot,and the cars were always about half full: this was a weekend.
what will really drive use on this thing is all the strip casinos suddenly charging for parking. If you wanna move around, you're gonna pay one way or another.
I would agree the stations are oddly placed, and hard to find though.
There's already a tram that runs to mandalay bay from across the pedestrian overpass at mgm - and it is free. It is owned by the hotel. The problem with the monorail is it is a ridiculously long walk from the strip through labyrinth of the hotels, and to a poorly marked tram station in the back. It can be a ten to fifteen minute walk through some of these casinos. And it costs money. They should have put the monorail right down the middle of the strip where the people are. Or under it.
I've ridden the Vegas monorail many times and it's never empty and it's always handy, useful, and appreciated.