End of the Line for Las Vegas Monorail
Posted on: April 5, 2024, 12:52h.
Last updated on: August 31, 2024, 05:35h.
When news broke in late 2020 that the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) had purchased the Las Vegas Monorail Co. out of bankruptcy, fans of the once-futuristic tram system saw it as a lifeline.
It was really a death warrant.
What most people don’t realize is that the LVCVA’s plans included an $11 million fee for dismantling the monorail, perhaps as early as 2028, but definitely by 2030.
Last Stop Coming Up
The problem is that operating the monorail, for which the LVCVA pays a Los Gatos, Calif. company up to $500K annually, has become like driving a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California SWB Spider. Sooner or later, it will break down and require a replacement part that can’t be obtained because it’s not manufactured anymore.
And old monorail parts aren’t the kind of things that get listed on eBay.
The monorail employs nine Innovia 200 trams, each with four cars, which its four-mile track was custom-designed to fit. Those trams were only manufactured by Bombardier out of Quebec, which no longer makes them. In fact, after racking up billions of dollars of debt, it no longer makes trams at all. Bombardier sold its rail business for $6.7 billion to French competitor Alstom in 2021.
Alstom only manufactures a newer model, the Innovia 300, whose beam width of 27.2 inches renders it incompatible with the 26-inch older model.
For a while, monorail executives reportedly rooted for Disney World to upgrade its Mark VI trams so they could buy the retired stock. (The first monorail tracks to operate in Vegas, connecting the MGM Grand and Bally’s from 1995 to 2002, used two retired Disney World Mark IVs.)
However, the Mouse House is in the same no-win situation as Las Vegas. It can buy an all-new monorail system but would need to construct all-new tracks. It’s not impossible for a company to develop a new monorail to fit the existing one’s tracks but nobody is rushing to step up to that very niche plate.
Off the Rails
The Las Vegas monorail began when the original MGM Grand-to-Bally’s system expanded to include seven more stops along the resort corridor in 2003.
It has never made a profit — but it was never designed to — since it was considered a public service. Though no public money was used in its $650 million construction ($1.12 billion today), Nevada did provide the project with the largest investment of state-issued bonds in the state’s history.
Other than its latest bankruptcy, which was its second, another hint that something wasn’t right was the relatively small price paid by the LVCVA, $24.3 million, for a system that cost so much to build.
A third hint is the deafening silence surrounding the monorail’s plans for a Mandalay Bay/Allegiant Stadium extension and a stop at MSG Sphere. Both were approved by Clark County in 2018 and expected to open by 2021.
The monorail even announced, in October 2019, that it had secured $33.5 million in financing from Dallas-based Preston Hollow Capital for the expansion.
The completion of this initial financing is an important and necessary step in our expansion strategy for this system, which already provides substantial mobility benefits along our busy resort corridor,” Las Vegas Monorail Co. CEO Curtis Myles said in a statement at the time.
“With two new stations, we will multiply those benefits for our customers, resort partners, sponsors, and our community.”
Neither station gets mentioned anymore by the LVCVA.
Crazy Train
So why would the LVCVA purchase an old transportation system that they knew was doomed?
Because the monorail had a noncompete clause that prohibited any other company from building another off-street transportation system for the Strip.
And the LVCVA had already signed, in 2019, a $48 million contract with Elon Musk’s The Boring Company to build the Vegas Loop, which would probably have violated the monorail’s noncompete clause.
Monorail tickets cost $5.50 for a one-way ride, $13.45 for an unlimited 24-hour pass, and $57.50 for a seven-day pass via the system’s website. Monorail trains arrive every four to eight minutes.
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Last Comments ( 91 )
You think that they are just gonna build it to Allegiant and or the airport like no big deal? Do you realize how many taxi and uber drivers will be out of jobs let alone other people associated with it all? If you ever have been to Reno or for that matter have not been to Reno then take a trip up there and then see how it would be if they built a “convenient “ transit method.
I wonder how many people ride the rail a day, avg. every time I have ridden the monorail there has only been a few people in with me. It does not seem to matter what time of day. With traffic, F1, etc getting worse, the monorail seems like a great option.
Didn't anyone commenting read Corey's article fully? He researched it and stated that parts for the cars on the monorail are nonexistant and not being manufactured anymore by a company no longer in business. It's impractical to expand a system that will soon be obsolete for not having the cars needed to run it.
Vegas is so over priced now, it is unreal. There will be a crumbling sound happening very soon. This is just the first move. The monorail was supposed to go Furniture Market and it never did. The Unions have priced everything past the affordability of the typical human. The casinos offer me free rooms. They can forget it. Food, airfare, taxis. Ubers, everything is stupid pricing.
If anything, the Monrail should take you to the airport, and be extented to the old Vegas section. But, what would happen to über, or high paid taxis to get around. Plus it can take you to the football and baseball stadium.
Just came to town and may be a future resident. This monorail is a joke and very poorly planned just like the rest of the strip. Thats why no one uses it. It should be demolished a. New light rail system developed that connects the airport, stadiums, unly and the convention center together including major points outside the strip. The strip is barely walkable now, traffic is insane and parking unaffordable. A new system would be costly and time consuming but would help alleviate a lot of issues. Make the tourist pay for it and reap the benefits long term.
I'm so sad I love ?? the monorail
Make it into another bar. Vegas needs one more bar.
Was just out there bougt a 3 day pass best thing Vegas has going for it. Yes too bad they killed the extension to airport but I loved riding it from convention center
IF you want to rebuild, START with the AIRPORT to the STRIP to ART DISTRICT to FREMONT EXPERIENCE to the NASCAR RACEWAY. This railway will be profitable.
They should've built it right down the middle of the strip; from the airport to downtown. Could've then added a spur to Allegiant Stadium. It's too far of a walk to be convenient & efficient.
I'm a retired public transportation executive that lives in Henderson and visited Las Vegas many times prior to moving here in 2018. It is well known in public transportation that monorails are not efficient or cost effective. The cost of building a raised guideway, the low capacity of the cars and the high operational costs are the reason. Monorails became "sexy" and seen as a good solution because of Disney. Monorails are not a good transportation solution for cities even though they may be for amusement parks. A previous comment mentioned light rail, which like trams are a much more logical transportation solution. I'm glad to see that the monorail is leaving. .
When the monorail route was designed, it did not extend to the airport BECAUSE the four guys who owned ALL the taxi cabs in Las Vegas would not permit it to happen. PLUS the west side of the Strip has NO monorail service. I was around back then, those are why it was never built to the airport
Save it! Vegas needs it for public transportation!
As competitive and scarce as affordable transportation is, removing the monorail would be a hugh mistake. We need to encourage NOT deplatform alternate sources of mobility.