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twitterLETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Monorail surely needs a connection to McCarran
Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.
Regarding a Jan. 29 article in the Las Vegas Sun, headlined “Las Vegas Monorail has few profitable options”:
As a Las Vegas resident who is a frequent Las Vegas Monorail customer, the monorail is a preferred travel option within the city. Generally, customers — now numbering 40 million since 2004 — seem to like the monorail a lot.
I know, though, things are far from perfect. The Las Vegas Monorail has a glaring weakness — it does not go just a little bit further south to McCarran International Airport.
Why the monorail system did not have a McCarran station when it opened in 2004 baffles me. What were the designers thinking? With millions of people arriving and departing McCarran each month, wouldn’t the benefits of a McCarran monorail station be a no-brainer?
Without a stop at McCarran, the monorail company has apparently been economically struggling along constantly. Now — as explained by Las Vegas Monorail CEO Curtis Myles — it has come to the point that the company has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for debt restructuring before moving forward with plans to finally construct a route extension to the airport.
To me, if the Bankruptcy Court ruling Feb. 17 goes against the company’s Chapter 11 debt restructuring request, the monorail will have no profitable option.
However, I firmly believe a monorail extension to McCarran (which would also enable another new stop at the Thomas & Mack Center/Cox Pavilion) would attract thousands of new passengers every day.
The distance from the monorail’s current final southern stop — MGM Grand — to McCarran is not very far. But lack of an opportunity for Las Vegas Monorail to operate through a Chapter 11 restructuring will keep the monorail from ever traveling that track to the airport.
Discussion: 16 comments so far…
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What the Monorail needs is a cutting torch and a wrecking ball. That monstrosity was doomed to failure by the very people that designed it.
It's not convenient at all. It is no more than an amusement ride. The Deuce is more convenient, and cheaper and it runs more frequently. Most tourists walk anyway, they love to gawk around and investigate on foot and that is their right. Lets tear that boondoggle down and improve the view.
I'm glad somebody finally asked the question I have always wanted the answer to. I'll bet the cabbies are opposed to it but what a difference it would make to the success of the monorail to have it extended to the airport. Getting some gas fueled vehicles off the streets wouldn't hurt either.
Monorail to the airport made too much sense. The thing is an amusement ride period.
If the thing made sense it would have included a trip to Fremont Street too. The only hotel operator that makes it convenient is the Wynn. When you get off the thing at DI you walk across the street and call a bus from the Wynn and it picks you up and takes you to his casino. Free too, Give the driver a tip.
Anyone would be stupid to come into Las Vegas with two adults, two children, four suitcases, and two carryons and try to get to their hotel on the monorail. In the first place a taxi would be cheaper and you would not have to drag baggage by hand for two or three blocks down crowded sidewalks when it is 110 in July. If it can't pay its way, close it down.
I got an idea.
Turn the monorail into a public company.
That way Candiotti can buy tons of stocks and bonds of the monorail company and then they can build the rail to the airport or to downtown.
If traffic revenue can't support this brilliant idea than it will be Candiotti's money at stake.
Go for it!!!!!!
I agree with the poster jlb101.
The shuttle service from the airport to all the hotels is extremely efficient and inexpensive. Who wants to drag their luggage on and off the monorail?
Extending the monorail to anywhere is just wasting more money. They tried, they failed. Sell it for scrap.
Monorail to the airport would only work if the there was a side service to deliever bags to the hotels and back.
It is already a loser now for it can't pay operational cost plus capital cost plus interest to fund the capital cost.
Adding the cost of bag service would be silly.
Solution:
Make the fare $1.
Add a $15 tax to the fare.
Tell people that the fare is only $1.
That is how the rental car business works at the airport.
A connection at McCarran would be ideal for the younger generation. They seldom carry anything more than a carry-on. It would be cheaper for an individual than a cab but, for families the taxi service is best. One of the major problems with the monorail is the distance from the station to the destination casino. The stop at Harrah's is extremely long as is the MGM stop. More people movers are necessary. You will hear first time visitors comment on how nice the monorail is for travel from one end to the other. It makes no sense to use it for short trips. Maybe they should try cutting the price and going for volume. The monorail runs regardless of how many passengers they have. You may get 100 riders at $5. Possibly at $3 you could entice 200 riders.
Use state tax money to extend it to Searchlight so Harry will not have to drive to Vegas...
Another idea......let's run the monorail right down the middle of every casino, to downtown, to every corner, to Lake Vegas, etc.
We could hire staff to hold and move bags.
It also cost $350 billion to build and only $150 million a day to operate.
The fare will still be only $1.
The tax will be $350 per fare.
But the fare would be still damn cheap.
How about just making Las Vegas Blvd go one way (north) so people have to end up downtown before they can make a u-turn. Monorail reminds me of that Simpsons episode when they have a failed monorail in Springfield. Just have MGM Mirage own the rail so it can connect all their casino.
I agree 100% with Robert L. Candiotti, but at the present time there is no capital available for an extension to the airport. Maybe, just maybe, the economy may recover enough by 2012 for that idea to be feasible. Thanks for being positive.
Support is the absolute neccessity of success for the Las Vegas Monorail. Not just financial support, technical support, etc...the system flat out needs support of those that it affects. Beyond the ridership, it needs hotel support, support from McCarran, support from residents, and support from other transit agencies. This support should have occured in the planning and building of the LV Monorail System.
Why do you think the LV Monorail never connected to the airport, or that it resides on the east-end of the Strip in the 'back of house' service corridor? The powers of the Nevada Cab Authority and the Large Corporate Casinos, and lobbyists from both parties, in the planning process never let it happen.
Anyone in successful transit planning and surely those from Monorail companies involved in the planning process of the LV Monorail would tell you that to be successful, a system like this needs to be easily accessible and even celebrated to an extent. Both of which it is not.
The cab authority has their own business to defend and would hate to see the monorail cut into their profit. The casinos have the interest of the closed control of the user experience in mind. Las Vegas and it's casino's sell an experience, and unfortunately in their eyes, public transit is not part of that experience. Complete control of the guest from arrival to departure ensures that the casino in mind sells the best of themselves, and that their customer is buying it.
Unfortunately the Strip also has a deeply embedded history with the automotive culture. People want to cruise the Strip, and for cars or pedestrians alike, casinos want uncompromised views of their resorts...the facades that they sell. The casinos made the mistake of not seeing a Monorail or transit system that actually resided on Las Vegas Boulevard to their benefit.
So in the end, I would be careful about shooting down the people that planned the project, but take more care in criticizing those that in fact shot down the original planning for a smart and accessible (and yes even McCarran Airport connected) system.
They should connect the monorail to my house and then to McDonalds so that I get quickie breakfast on Sat mornings.
I have never ridden the monorail. I could never find it...
Robert L. Candiotti's letter has all of the hallmarks of a communication being written by a public relations agency, in this case a public relations agency for either (a) the Monorail management or (b) the few casino operators who think they are benefitted by the operation of the Monorail or (c) the Las Vegas Convention Authority whose convention center is served by the Monorail.
However, Candiotti's comments are like those of many morons and airheads who have been writing about the Monorail in the past few weeks. There is no way to finance a Monorail expansion when the operator has already failed to make the required payments on the existing loan. Even in bankruptcy, there is no way to compel anyone to make additional loans to Monorail to allow an expansion of the system. Only unsophisticated airheads are even considering that possibility?
Here is the reality:
Think of Las Vegas Monorail, Inc. as a person who borrowed money on an auto loan. They have missed more than a year of payments on that auto. The auto is about to be repossessed by the lender (Wells Fargo). The bank is also suing the person who co-signed the auto loan (Ambac).
Who in the world is going to make a new auto loan to Monorail, as a borrower, to finance an expansion to the airport?
Ace's Used Autos on Boulder Highway doesn't sell or make loans on multi-million dollar monorail systems.
The State of Nevada as a potential lender is insolvent.
Clark County as a potential lender is insolvent.
No lenders for expansion money in sight? Case closed.