Friday, March 11, 2005 | 11:05 a.m.
Tourists wooed to the Las Vegas Monorail are helping take a bite out of a public bus route once considered local public transit's "cash cow," the Regional Transportation Commission's top accountant said Thursday.
The almost 20 percent dip in CAT bus passengers along the Strip came as the monorail fell short of its ridership estimates for the second straight month.
Terry Cordell, the RTC's chief financial officer, attributed the drop in part to the monorail, which he said has lured visitors curious about the less traditional technology, and the string of private construction projects on the Strip that has prompted the closure of five northbound bus stops.
RTC analysts had initially expected ridership to drop about 5 percent since late last year, although actual figures have been between 17 and 20 percent, he said.
"We didn't expect there to be that much of a hit," Cordell said. "... But there's a huge amount of construction."
Speaking at the RTC's finance committee meeting Thursday, Cordell said he expected total farebox revenue this fiscal year to exceed $40 million, up from the $37 million reported last year. A fiscal year runs from July 1 to Jan. 31.
The Strip routes account for about 18 percent of the bus system's ridership and revenue, RTC spokeswoman Sue Christiansen said. The RTC in January recorded an estimated 5.1 million riders on that route last fiscal year, bringing in $3.6 million.
"Even though the Strip was our cash cow, most of our revenue came from residential (service)," Cordell said of the reliable ridership figures of the route. "I think it'll go up when construction is done. I am absolutely convinced."
In January, about 600,000 people boarded the buses, down 9 percent from January 2004, Christiansen said.
Meanwhile the monorail company reported 621,909 riders -- roughly 23,033 a day -- in February, bringing in about $1.8 million. Monorail officials had initially projected the $650 million system would bring in about 29,000 daily riders and would increase to more than 42,000.
The system opened July 15 but closed again in September after a string of glitches that included a 60-pound wheel falling from a moving train that prompted a 107-day inspection of the $650 million system. It reopened for public service Dec. 24.
The monorail, which was open 27 days last month, barely exceeded January's average daily ridership of roughly 22,000 a day but fell well short of the 691,000 total riders who boarded the system in January. August, the system's only other full month of operation, saw more than 837,000 riders board the system.
Still, officials from the RTC and monorail company said they do not consider each other competition, even as the county agency prepares to launch a fleet of double-decker buses to carry passengers along the Strip this summer.
The Swedish-built buses, which are designed to accommodate 81 passengers compared with the 60 who can fit into an articulated bus with its two sections connected by a flexible joint, are expected to draw riders looking for a unique experience similar to that of the monorail, Cordell said.
"On a Friday night, you'll be able to see everything," he said, adding that the new buses will also provide increased revenue-generating advertising opportunities.
Todd Walker, a spokesman for the monorail, said the CAT bus system provides a wider, valley-wide service far different from the privately financed monorail.
The Federal Transportation Administration in January denied an RTC request for more than $320 million in the 2006 federal budget to extend the monorail downtown. The two-mile extension, which would have connected to the privately funded four-mile route linking the MGM Grand to the Sahara hotel, would have been managed by the RTC.
Monorail and RTC officials have publicly said an extension to the system is not off the table for the 2007 budget, as the system could still generate the numbers that would make it attractive to the federal government.
"We need multiple modes to provide the transit riders, tourists and locals alike, with multiple options about how to get different places," he said. "The CAT bus system has a broad reach throughout the community."
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