Monorail enjoys busiest month

Stephen Curran

Wednesday, April 6, 2005 | 9 a.m.

More than 1 million people boarded the Las Vegas Monorail last month, the system's most profitable month, according to ridership numbers released today.

The figures are good news for the company, which last week saw its bond rating cut to junk status amid months of lower-than-expected ridership and a string of equipment failures. The monorail had fallen short of its ridership projections in January and February, carrying far fewer than the 36,000 riders company officials estimated would board each day.

The system, which runs from the MGM Grand to the Sahara hotel, made nearly $3 million in farebox revenue in the 31 days last month, company numbers show.

Of last month's 1 million passengers, 220,000 boarded during the four-day ConExpo-Con/Agg convention earlier that month. Its busiest day came March 16, when it carried a little more than 48,000 riders.

The $650 million system had been averaging 22,000 riders a day.

Todd Walker, a spokesman for the monorail company, attributed the spike to the trains' increased reliability in past months.

"We anticipated we would see an increase," Walker said. "Some of this increase can be attributed to the system essentially beginning to work like a clock."

Walker stopped short of saying the increase would set a precedent for future months, but he said the privately financed system was "heading in the right direction."

An estimated 837,000 people boarded the system in August, previously the system's most profitable month. January and February are the only two other full months the system has run trouble-free since opening for public service in July.

The low ridership numbers had also taken a toll on future plans by the Regional Transportation Commission to expand the system. In January, the Federal Transportation Administration denied the RTC's request for more than $320 million in public money for a two-mile extension to the existing, four-mile route.

The monorail reopened Dec. 24 after a 107-day closure that started after a two-pound washer fell from a moving train Sept. 8. That event occurred a day after the system reopened from a six-day closure that began when a 60-pound wheel assembly fell from another train.