More Desperate Times For The Monorail
November 28, 2008
I’m sorry guys, but it looks like the beginning of the end. Things are just looking worse and worse.
Last month, I posted that the Las Vegas Monorail had pretty much ended the locals program. You basically have to live on the MGM or Sahara station to participate in the program.
They closed all customer service booths except for two.
Now, they aren’t even staffing those booths on holidays.
Las Vegas Monorail Sign
Las Vegas Monorail Sign
Talk about cutting costs to the bone.
It would only require two people to staff the two service booths, and the multi-million dollar system took a pass.
All major advertisers and sponsors have pulled out of the monorail because it has never once met a ridership target, and they still haven’t lowered fares to make the train any more attractive to travelers. It’s still $20 one-way for a party of four.
To give you perspective, I took the Monorail to the MGM this morning. It now costs me five bucks to do so.
It started pouring rain, and therefore, I took a taxicab home. The fare was about $8 (cab fare has also gone up this year). I gave the driver $11. So it costs me $5 by Monorail, or $11 by cab. The monorail still wins when I am by myself … but if I was with one other person, it would have pretty much been a wash. And if I was with more than one person, the monorail would have cost substantially more.
And that is after trekking through the back of a casino, and having to walk in the rain for 5 minutes after getting off the train to my destination.
A cab is door-to-door without weather concerns.
How can this business model work?
The answer is … it can’t, and it’s not.
When something is less convenient, and more expensive, people aren’t going to use it.
At least not in numbers that you need to keep a product solvent.
Let’s face it, when you can’t keep two employees working on a holiday in the nation’s largest tourist destination, you are getting ready to throw in the towel.
But wait, there’s more …
The Monorail no longer accepts coupons!
Apparently, a coupon that gives you a dollar or two off a ride is no longer acceptable. Even though coupons are the only way that the monorail can even compete for the transit dollar … they have declared them all invalid.
Folks, this is not good.
When you are so strapped that you no longer absorb the coupons that are already in circulation … you are hurting beyond hurt.
Want to know the irony? I was offered Monorail coupons by two different pamphlet pushers on The Strip today, and I accepted them.
I figure they will be a piece of Las Vegas history at some point.
I knew they were useless when I accepted them.
But … what happens to the poor tourist who takes those coupons to the rail and tries to redeem them … only to find no way to do so.
Is that person going to ride the thing, or will they think it was underhanded? Are they going to dig in their pocket for the remainder and actually get on the rail, or will they just turn around and catch a cab?
My guess is that they may take the rail that once, but will take a cab back.
The system can’t survive off one time riders. They need a consistent rider base, and the fact of the matter is that the only consistent rider they have is me.
But wait, there’s more …
I did not see one security guard the whole time I was in the system nor did I see a single rail employee of any kind.
I could have easily hopped the turnstile, and nobody would have had been the wiser. Hell, if I were a less honest person, I could ride the thing for free.
I also did not see ONE SINGLE RIDER from the Convention Center to the MGM. It was me … in a train … alone … the whole trip.
No employees, no riders, the system has been almost completely abandoned.
It’s a matter of time folks. All the signs are there.
The rail is supposed to go to the airport at some point. That was the plan. That was the promise. That was the improvement. However, it appears that they are moving completely in the opposite direction. Instead of expanding, the Monorail appears to be contracting.
I am hoping beyond hope to be wrong, but I am now fully prepared for the inevitable.
I just don’t know how these signs can be taken to mean anything other than a slow unwinding of operations.
As a matter of fact, if they announce the shutdown of the system tomorrow, it will not surprise me.
Remember, you heard it here first … and I’m not saying this in a positive or victorious way at all.
Written by Disco Stu on November 28, 2008 at 8:57 pm
If a cab driver took you from MGM to your doorstep, then that is a better deal because you didn’t have to walk to the back of MGM and then walk home in the rain.
I love the idea of the Monorail although they seem to be convinced of some impending subsidy that probably is not coming given the current economic situation.
The more I read of their business practices, the less I like about the whole organization.
Written by creeping death on December 2, 2008 at 6:30 am
I always thought the monorail was a good idea. Until they built it. They put it in the absolute worst location.In the back of the casinos.
This might go against logic . But extending it to the airport might be the only way to get people to ride it. even that might not make it profitable. as it would only be convenient to people staying at the casinos where it stops. That excludes all resorts west of the strip.
I’m not an engineer but i always thought a subway under the strip was the best idea. I don’t know if that is even possible. and i am sure it would cost so much that it could never recoup the money. but, i will guarantee you that people would ride it.
Written by dasheetz on December 4, 2008 at 3:56 am
The idea of extending to the airport was ridiculous at best.
Unless they added a luggage car.
Written by Abe on December 14, 2008 at 4:28 am
It will never be expanded to the airport – cabbies will fight it tooth and nail. That’s been the case with every major city that’s tried to expand mass transit to the airports.
It would have been better if it ran on the Strip, sure, but where? It would have been an eyesore, running down the median.