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Take a ride with me on the Las Vegas Monorail from the Convention Center Station to the Harrah’s Station:

As many people know from reading my other articles, I frequently ride the Las Vegas Monorail.

My home is a four minute walk from a station, and this relieves the need to hop in a car in order to access The Strip.

However, the monorail, like most of Las Vegas, is apparently in major trouble.

I found out that they eliminated free Wi-Fi from the stations, and just this weekend I found out something else that they eliminated … customer service.  And I don’t mean that in the usual way by implying that the clerks are rude.  I mean that they have eliminated the customer service booths altogether in all but two stations … MGM and Sahara.

This is really going to be a pain in the ass for me, because I usually get my $1 local’s pass from a station closer to the mid-Strip, and they only give you 2 local’s tickets per trip at the booth.  This effectively eliminated the locals program for me, because in order to get a local’s pass, I am going to have to buy a $5 one-way ticket just to pick them up.

Since I am the only person in the known galaxy who rides the damn thing, this may very well signal the beginning of the end for the troubled rail system.

The monorail has never been profitable, and it has never met ridership projections.

The system serves only a handful of hotels, and completely ignores every property on the west side of The Strip.

It also fails to serve Downtown, and the Airport.  Half of the people that visit Las Vegas are not even aware that the thing exists.

The fare structure is also abhorrent.  While daily passes can be had for $12 each, most people do not take the monorail more than twice per day.  The typical tourist takes the rail once going, and once coming back.  The typical local rides the rail in the same manner.  The one way fare is $5.

This means that it will cost a party of 4 twenty dollars to go from Harrah’s to Paris, while a similar cab trip will be about half of that.  The walk from the monorail to the Paris casino floor is also quite lengthy, while a cab is door-to-door.

Why would anyone take a mass transit system that costs twice as much as a taxicab?

Answer:  They wouldn’t, and they don’t.

The design of the system was also very poorly thought-out, and has been a complete failure by every conceivable measure of success (revenue, ridership, perception, etc).

However, for the past couple of years, it did serve ME … and my reason for choosing where I currently live was due in large part to the easy Monorail access, and the $1 fare for being a local.

Having that taken away from me is actually an extremely big deal.

Deep down, I knew the thing was going to fail … I was just hoping that it would be later rather than sooner.

There are only 7 stations in the entire system.  If they cannot afford to pay 5 people minimum wage to sit in the customer service booths and scowl at people (which is pretty much what they did), then times have gotten very tough, very fast.

As if this dismal news was not enough for the system, a major sponsor (Sprint/Embarq) pulled out Monorail sponsorship earlier this year due to the system’s lackluster ridership, and the rail is currently courting sponsors … none of whom appear to be terribly interested.

I know that only three people on the planet give a damn about the Monorail, but as the only person in Las Vegas that rides the train daily, this really is major.

Las Vegas desperately needs non-surface transit.  There are no more “short cuts” in this town that have not already been fully exploited.  Everyone is aware of Paradise, Koval, Frank Sinatra Dr, etc … there are no more “secret” roads in this town.  The roads that exist now are all we will ever have.  There is no room to build more.

We have one major thoroughfare, and it’s not getting any wider.  Our population density (counting hotel visitors) rivals that of Manhattan, and the lack of transit is, has, and always will be the achilles heel of this town until something is put in place that will allow people to move up and down the Boulevard without regards to automobile traffic.

This incarnation of the Monorail was not a solution to the problem.

Unless you are attending a convention while staying at the MGM, the rail is of little use to you.

By all indications, the rail is on extremely borrowed time, and will probably be put out of its misery in the not-too-distant future.

Just damn.

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