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StumbleRTC to Las Vegas Monorail: You’re on your own
Thursday, March 11, 2010 | 1:29 p.m.
Sun Archives
- Monorail knew of insolvency for years, files show (2-27-2010)
- Las Vegas Monorail officials thinking beyond crushing debt (2-22-2010)
- Las Vegas Monorail could seek partnership with Chinese (2-17-2010)
- Monorail spending expected to be scrutinized at bankruptcy hearing (2-17-2010)
- Las Vegas Monorail bonds downgraded after bankruptcy filing (2-5-2010)
- Las Vegas Monorail argues against bankruptcy as municipality (2-3-2010)
- After all the promises, will taxpayers be stuck with the monorail’s bills? (1-22-2010)
- Judge sets hearing date in Las Vegas Monorail bankruptcy case (1-19-2010)
- Las Vegas Monorail files for bankruptcy protection (1-13-2010)
Officials at the Regional Transportation Commission said Thursday they aren’t interested in helping out the troubled Las Vegas Monorail.
The RTC has been mentioned as a potential savior for the monorail, which is going through bankruptcy proceedings.
Since the monorail is a private company, it would need support from the commission to get federal transit funds, RTC General Manager Jacob Snow told the commission’s board at its monthly meeting Thursday.
But supporting the monorail could create competition for funds the RTC uses for its own transit system, Snow said.
The board didn’t take any formal action, but Snow said the RTC staff recommends the two organizations stay separate. Board members said they agreed and would look into taking formal action if necessary.
Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said she has been a skeptic of the monorail, saying the company needs to work its problems out on its own.
Commissioner Larry Brown, who is the RTC chairman, said the monorail offers a good service that complements the RTC, but “it’s very important we remain independent and separate.”
Monorail board member Bruce Woodbury told the Sun last month that he has had informal discussions with the RTC about merging the monorail with its mass-transit bus system. The monorail would still be owned and operated by the nonprofit company, but it would integrate with RTC transit systems in the resort corridor.
Woodbury, a former county commissioner, previously served as the RTC chairman and said monorail President and CEO Curtis Myles, who used to be the RTC assistant general manager, speaks regularly with Snow. Ingrid Reisman, monorail vice president of corporate communications, is a former RTC employee.
However, the RTC has been pushing its own mass transit system on the Strip, which would compete with the monorail. The commission’s new ACE Gold line will offer a rapid bus service along Las Vegas Boulevard designed to resemble a light-rail train system.
Snow said he still thinks the monorail provides a valuable public service by offering another transit option, and said, “they are good people, we wish them well,” but they shouldn’t plan on the RTC’s help.
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Enough allready. The monorail issue is an old story. As numerous people have said in the past, get over it, tear it down, scrap it, and move on.
Rename it the Harry Reid Choo Choo, staff it with federal government workers, and fund it with phoney stimulus money.
Harras casinos have bought up every casino along its route. Let them pay for it with all the money they have stolen. Its not cheap to ride the monorail.
They should make it a running bridge for tourists who want to jog in the moring.
If the casinos want the monorail, let them fund it. If they don't, shut it down.
This is old news,what a waste of money.If they would have put the tracks from the airport down Las Vegas strip to Fremont St.they would have had no problems and made alot of money.This was Half ass done.
Comment removed by moderator. Comment contained an advertisement.
That's right By neiman1. It gets old for taxpayers to foot the bill that benefits the resort industry, only for them to whince everytime they are asked to contribute more to the tax coffers. They want their cake and eat it too and the only ones that profit are the sleezy scum at the top.
Why should the County take over a bankrupt program. When in fact if Clark County waits for the Monorail system go thru reorganization under bankruptcy. Then the County can purchase the Monorail for pennies on the dollar just as Harris did with Planet Hollywood, and Icon did with Fountain Blu. If the County does in fact purchase the Monorail then they could extend it to from downtown to the airport possibly connecting to that rail there and go from terminal 1, 2 and 3 that is being built. And if the funds are available from the Feds run it around the city next to the 215. And maybe take it to The state line, Primm, and Mesquite, and possibly to the race track. That would be cool. We should use the money we want to spend on roads to improve the monorail, that way more trades can be affected by the stimulus funds. And more people are put back to work and it would be a program that would actually help both the environment and the communities.
they should have made ridership on the thing for free the millisecond they realized it was going under and leveraged advertising dollars based on that ridership.
It is a shame for the monorail to go to waste, the casinos benefiting from this line should take over the operations.
I'm in Ohio...been to Vegas 3 times. I rode the bus on the stip to Freemont...a 2 hour trip that I didn't like. I didn't ride the monorail. The monorail should have been built from the airport all the way to Freemont. Fund it, build it, and take some lessons from Disney on how to run it.
Then it's an asset that will compliment the entire City and it's visitors.
I hate to say I told you so, but....
Good for the RTC.
Of course, what they say today may change tomorrow, based upon intense political pressure from Monorail and monied interests who want it bailed out.
So I have a little message for Jacob Snow, just in case he and his pals at RTC change their minds and start contemplating getting involved in financing or subsidizing the Monorail:
Mr. Snow and his pals need to look at the Consent Decree and the Public Bus Service Plan, which is still in effect in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Case No. 2:94-cv-05936-TJH/McLabor Community et al v. Los Angeles County MTA et al. It is called the "Bus Riders Union Case". In that case the plaintiffs successfully used the Federal Civil Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution to force LA MTA to provide "equal" funding for bus service in all low income communities, and to provide bus service from low income communities to areas where low income people could get jobs.
There is a similar case in Seattle, also successful against their regional transportation agency.
Jacob Snob says that the RTC "can't afford" to provide bus service to the area south of the 215 and west of the 15, despite the fact that it now has at least 50,000 residents and generates billions in real estate and sales tax revenue to Clark County.
Jacob and friends, keep saying "No" to Monorail because you were on the verge of getting legally reamed for not providing "equally intense/accessible" bus service to the far southwest of the Las Vegas Valley.
That hammer can always drop on RTC, but it won't happen if (1) RTC starts providing that bus service to the far southwest forthwith and (2) RTC doesn't provide a penny to finance Monorail or subsidize its operations.
I live in the SW and have been told that the a route is being extended to Rainbown and Robindale. I checked their website and it's in there for the upcoming service change. I'm so excited to see this service come to my area.
I live in the SW and have been told that the a route is being extended to Rainbow and Robindale on the Route 201. I checked their website and it's in there for the upcoming service change. I'm so excited to see this service come to my area.
Rainbow and Robindale does nothing for people in Rhodes Ranch or areas south of it, Mountains Edge, Coronado Ranch, areas south east of Coronado Ranch or Southern Highlands.
Rainbow and Robindale is useless, at the far northern tip of the far southwest. Just a b.s. move by Jacob Snob and his pals.
The socialist Democrats will make riding on the monorail mandatory for every tourist entering Las Vegas. That, in turn, will kill Las Vegas.
Again, it's too valuable to let go to waste! Send an extension out to McCarran and the travelers will use it believe me! It will breath new life into it!!
Make it a part of metropolitan transport and expand it to the airport. It is part of our future.
Cynical Observer - You make a lengthy case for low income accessible bus service, then mention Southern Highlands and Rhodes Ranch? I'm all in favor of having bus service reasonably accessible to everyone, but when dollars are limited, you have to go where the greatest demand is. I don't see a lot of people in those communities clamoring to ride the bus. "If you build it, they will come" was the monorail's mantra.
Make your point, but no need to denigrate people, it really just undermines your credibility. Jacob Snow is a decent guy who I think would treat you with much more respect than you have given him.
PUT THE CRUMBS WHO DID THIS IN JAIL.
WHERE ARE THE *INDICTMENTS*.....?
Congratulations to the RTA
The overhead train is inconvenient. It was inconvenient before they built it and it still is. The day they started building it was one day closer to the day it will be dismantled.
Sell it to someone along with the right to expand it to include the airport & Fremont street, or scrap it. Only way it has a chance of not running a deficit is if it taps into the tourists arriving & departing from the airport.
Remember the "train to nowhere"? Apparently, "build it and they will come" isn't such a winning strategy, as evidenced by the monorail.
It would be a slam dunk winner if it ran from the airport. However, what impact would it have on the taxi industry?
Expensive, not convenient, I will stick with car rental when in Vegas (which is super cheap). Don't let anyone use your tax dollars to pay for that waste!!!
RBPerrine:
"I rode the bus on the stip to Freemont...a 2 hour trip that I didn't like."
I have ridden the Strip busses here- including on New Year's Eve, when the ride is free, and the busses are at max capacity...I have NEVER had a 2 hour trip, even from say, Trop, to Fremont St.
Those busses are on a schedule of something like 8-10 minute intervals. Yes, all of the stops make the trip take longer than a car- but 2 hours sounds pretty outrageous.
As far as moving tourists around goes- the RTC is a champ.
I think you're all missing something ... the Monorail makes a profit (makes more than operating and maintenance expenses)! It just isn't making enough to cover the initial construction costs ... Does the RTC cover its O&M expenses? ... Nope.
To Two Cents:
FYI there are a not really surprising number of unemployed young people, under the age of 25, who live in Rhodes Ranch, Southern Highlands and Mountains Edge, who have no cars and no transportation.
In addition, there are lots of teenagers in all of the areas SW of the 15 and 215, whose parents pay a ton of taxes to the County and get no bus service for their kids in return.
And, of course there the legions of poor cleaning ladies who ride the bus, and have no way of getting jobs in the far southwest because there are no buses.
All of the foregoing are the kinds of facts that led to wins against local transit agencies in LA and Seattle establishing the principle of equal access to bus service for all.
I think people make too much about the monorail being located at the back of the casinos. If you ever have taken the subway in another city sometimes you have to walk quite a distance to get to the subway platform. And for $5 the monorail has only a limited number of stops. It should have built all the way from the airport to the downtown.