An excellent first day review of the LV Monorail by David Berman
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The Las Vegas Monorail opened to the public on July 15, and I was pleased to
be able to take a comprehensive look at it on its first day.
Here's a summary of my activities: Traveling with two friends, we parked in
the MGM Grand garage and rode the monorail from its starting point to its
northern terminus at Sahara Station. Then we rode it back, this time getting
off and on at each station to explore the pedestrian access routes between
the stations and the respective resorts associated with them. Along the way,
I engaged in conversations with passengers, asking what they thought of the
monorail; how they learned about it; where they live; why they were in town
(if visiting); and whether they would use the monorail again. I also asked
questions and had discussions with security guards, Las Vegas Monorail
employees, and representatives of train-builder Bombardier. During the day I
also called a public-relations representative of Bombardier to clarify some
technical questions.
What follows is a combination of fact, observations, opinions and
predictions, ending with a few tips folks might find useful and a link to an
online album of 35 opening-day photos.
Folks who rode the old MGM Grand-to-Bally's monorail will have a sense of
familiarity if they start their journey from the MGM Grand. The walk to the
station platform is the same as it always was, and even the sign directing
people to the Monorail to Bally's remains in place at this time.
Monorail ride tickets are purchased from automatic vending machines at each
station. During an extended introductory period, ticket costs are: $3.00 one
way; $5.50 round-trip; $10.00 for an unlimited-use one-day ticket; $20 for a
10-ride ticket; and $25 for a three-day ticket. Some of these are not as they
seem, which I'll explain in my tips near the end of this report.
The ticket-buying process is fast and efficient. The machines accept cash or
the standard list of credit cards, dispensing both ticket and receipt
separately into a bin, the process resembling the dispensing of a can of
soda.
Riders choose their ticket-purchase options from a touch screen .I noted
some confusion on the part of ticket buyers at the various stations. Some who
were planning a two-way trip were buying just a one-way ticket, not realizing
the advantage of buying a round-trip or even one of the other ticket options.
And while monorail employees stood by to offer assistance with the using the
dispensing machines, they were not explaining the meaning and advantages of
the different types of tickets.
If curiosity motivates you to simply ride the monorail from one end to the
other and then ride it back, you can do all that on a $3.00 one-way ticket.
But once you exit through a turnstile, you cannot get back onto a train
without buying another ticket.
To enter the station, you insert your ticket into a slot in a turnstile. The
ticket is electronically validated and is ejected through a second slot at
the top of the turnstile. Then, as you walk between turnstiles, barriers
recede into the sides of the turnstiles and you are free to enter the
station.
The Monorail Company advertises a 14-minute trip from one end of the route to
the other, with speeds as high as 50 miles per hour. This is an ideal that I
don't think will be reached in normal operations, as the trains are rarely
going to operate at that speed, partly due to the several turns they have to
negotiate along the way. It seemed to us the trains were traveling at about
35 mph most of the way, and the total trip was about 17-18 minutes. That's
still not bad, though.
The ride from one end to the other was very smooth, with just a couple of
bumps at certain places where the track was joined. And it would have been
exceedingly quiet except for the fact that Las Vegas Monorail, in its
infinite wisdom, recently decided to add music in some of the trains. For the
most part I found this music more of an annoyance than a benefit.
Everyone I spoke with on the trains was happy, some exceedingly happy, with
their experience. Many of the passengers didn't know about the monorail in
advance, or at least didn't know its precise opening date, and they were all
pleased to be in Las Vegas at a time when they could enjoy a ride. Most were
staying at Strip hotels, either those served directly by a monorail station
or resorts further south on the Strip or west of the stations.
Each monorail train has four cars and is designed to carry a total of 224
passengers, 72 of them seated and 152 standing. Breaking this down, it
amounts to 18 seated riders and 38 standees per car.
Does that sound like a lot? We were surprised at how cramped each of these
cars can seem even when they are not completely full. And when a car is full,
it is not easy for every standee to gain access to a grab bar or rail to hang
on.
The monorail will also add modestly to the number of people visiting
downtown Las Vegas, as more folks learn that bus service has been initiated
from the Sahara station to downtown for a fee of only 50 cents. All you need
do is get onto this bus at the bottom of the Sahara monorail station. The bus
route is following the approximate path the downtown monorail extension will
take after construction begins next year.
Many have speculated that it will be inconvenient to get into the Strip
hotels served by the monorail stations, but we didn't find this to be the
case at all. All stations except the Convention Center station have
pedestrian bridges or walkways leading into their associated properties, and
the walks don't seem very long. By comparison, such walks are clearly shorter
than the walk you'd have crossing Las Vegas Boulevard from the front door of
one resort on the Strip to the front door of another.
As far as I can recall, each station is accessible by stairs, escalators and
elevators. This will be especially valuable for visitors moving around with
luggage or bulky purchases. And of course, those attending events at the
Convention Center will enjoy the benefits of the monorail.
Sahara Station offers a simple, covered pedestrian bridge over Paradise Rd.
to connect to the Sahara. Inside the property, you'll walk along an
attractive corridor that appears to have stone walls, coming out into the
casino area almost immediately adjacent to the lounge where acts such as Lena
Prima, Bertie Higgins and Sixtisemania perform.
At the Las Vegas Hilton Station, exit from the monorail is directly into the
northwest corner of the Star Trek casino. As with the Sahara entry, you can
expect to be welcomed by a hotel employee handing out literature and
promotional offers.
The Convention Center Station was a surprise and a minor disappointment to
me, not because the three-level, Nextel-sponsored station is still being
finished, but because it does not have a covered bridge or walkway leading
directly to the facility. For now, at least, you'll need to walk across a
large parking lot to reach the main hall.
The Harrah's/Imperial Palace Station is excellent. A ground-level walkway,
cooled by misting units when needed, ends with two signs, one directing you
to the left for Imperial Palace and one pointing toward the right for Harrah
's. I examined the IP entrance only enough to verify that it picks up at the
same place where you'd enter IP from its garage. The Harrah's entrance takes
you down the same corridor toward the casino as it always did, past the
office for the Fairfield time-share sales. But at the top of the escalator
down to the casino, where there used to be some arcade games along the wall,
you will now find a Starbucks with café-style seating on one side and a small
refreshment stand selling water, juice, soft drinks and beer on the other
side.
The Flamingo/Caesars Palace Station is lovely. You'll walk toward the
Flamingo on a wide, curved pedestrian bridge, enjoying a superb view of the
Flamingo's famed pool area on the right.
The Bally's/Paris Station entrance into Bally's is nothing special, so we
just took a quick look to determine that the exit area is where it always was
with the old monorail.
We saw two minor glitches during our monorail excursion, not surprising for
an opening day. Ticket turnstiles were malfunctioning at a couple of the
stations, emitting high-pitched alarms that are intended for attempt at
illegal entry. The security staff handled this by examining riders' tickets
and then waving them through.
At one of the stations, a train was held with its doors open for about six
minutes, while a recorded voice over station speakers repeatedly announced "a
slight delay" without giving the reason.
Trains on this day were running at nine-minute intervals, with plans to
mostly run at five- or six-minute intervals.
Current operating hours: 8:00 a.m. to midnight, scheduled soon to become 6:00
a.m. to 2:00 a.m. Maintenance on trains and tracks will be performed when the
system is closed.
My opinion: The monorail will be a winner, especially among tourists who take
advantage of ticket deals and don't want to wrestle with cabs, tips to cab
drivers, waiting for cabs, rental cars, etc. Especially when exploring the
Strip, it will be a great way to get around, taking the monorail from one
station to another, crossing the street to get to resorts on the west side of
the Strip. And I can easily see some of the resorts using monorail tickets as
incentives for their customers.
Potential lawsuits: I was told by a LV Monorail representative that the
operator is contemplating the installation of additional devices that will
give riders something to grab onto when a car is crowded, If they don't, this
is a major lawsuit waiting to happen, with the scenario being a sudden
monorail stop, throwing around and injuring one or more riders who have
nothing to hold onto.
Tips: The one-day ticket for $10.00 is not really a one-day ticket. It is a
24-hour ticket, with the 24 hours starting from the time you first insert
your ticket in a turnstile. This means, for example, that if you buy your
ticket at 2:00 p.m., you not only can use it until midnight, but you can
continue to use it until 2:00 p.m. the next day. So if your own needs and
schedule allow you to strategize in this way, you can stretch your use of the
ticket over two consecutive days.
Similarly, the three-day $25.00 ticket is actually a 72-hour ticket, allowing
you, if you wish, to use it over part of day one and also part of day four.
Here is a gambit we all tried with success. As I mentioned earlier, we
purchased the $10.00 unlimited one-day (24 hours) tickets. At about 2:30
p.m., when we exited at MGM Grand and were through with our tickets, we asked
a family lined up at the ticket-vending machine if they'd like to buy our
tickets from us for $5.00 each. They immediately did so, making it a win-win
situation for all concerned. There appears to be no regulation or law that
would prevent selling a ticket in this manner. I even asked monorail
personnel at three separate stations if they had a problem with it, and they
all said they didn't think it would be a problem. - We'll have to see how
this plays out in the future, but in the meantime it is a strategy that might
benefit you. I also don't think it would be a flagrant thing for the monorail
folks to worry about, since so few of their ticket buyers would be interested
in doing this. In case you are interested, Clark County does have an anti-
scalping law, but it exempts tickets sold for face value or less. You see
this in practice outside the Thomas & Mack arena each December, when folks
holding tickets for the National Finals Rodeo attempt to sell them for face
value or less. But since this constitutes loss of revenue to Las Vegas
Monorail, don't be surprised to hear this being addressed in some way in the
future.
At some of the locations -MGM Grand and the Las Vegas Hilton come immediately
to mind- we saw big lineups of ticket buyers at single free-standing ticket
machines located just inside the resorts. These folks didn't realize that if
they simply turned the corner and walked a few more steps toward the station,
they'd find rows of at least three or four machines, sitting there virtually
unused. Keep that in mind if you run into this problem.
Use this link to see my album of Day One on the Las Vegas Monorail:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeANGrZs5ZtGbM-A
--Best from David in NV