Las Vegas Monorail Chief Marketing Officer Ingrid Reisman recently told the Green Chips board of trustees a monorail would solve many public transportation issues in Las Vegas, such as heavy car and pedestrian traffic on and along the Las Vegas Strip.
A monorail could convey passengers from McCarran International Airport to their hotel destinations on the Las Vegas Strip and Downtown, while also making it easier to travel from one end of the Strip to another without having to walk long distances or drive.
Reisman says a monorail also would produce zero emissions and have no net effect on air quality in the Las Vegas Valley, where smog and haze can become a problem on hot summer days.
Better still, a monorail is the only form of public transportation that consistently covers its own costs, mostly due to reduced maintenance due to its relatively simply operating system, Reisman said.
Las Vegas currently has two monorail systems, one that connects the MGM Grand to the Las Vegas Convention Center, and another, much shorter one, which connects MGM’s Mandalay Bay, Luxor, and Excalibur casino properties.
Visitors consistently say the monorail systems are too short and don’t connect to the airport, and many complain that it’s too hard to find the terminus at the MGM Grand and takes too long to walk to it.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) likewise has said a monorail connecting the airport to the Las Vegas Strip would help convey visitors to their hotels much faster than when using costly taxi cabs and car rentals.
The Las Vegas Convention Center is undergoing a $2.3 billion makeover and expansion, and Southern Nevada Tourism and Infrastructure Committee is looking at ways to fund the expansion, while also securing funding for other proposals. Among them are a $1.2 billion stadium and $12 billion in public transportation improvements.
In the meantime, the Convention Center expansion continues, with the demolition of the Riviera Casino planned sometime this year. The site is to become an outdoor exhibition area that will be available for a large construction industry tradeshow scheduled in 2017.
Although the convention center expansion is underway, it is not fully funded, and the Tourism and Infrastructure committee did not provide any guidance regarding project priorities. Instead, committee members solely are concerned with funding, much of which the LVCVA says will come from a 12 percent room tax.
The LVCVA also suggested it might give up control of the Cashman Center, which hosts the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s baseball team and many events throughout the year, but operates at a loss.
Las Vegas is the world’s top destination for conventions and trade shows, and the LVCVA wants to keep it that way.
But rising competition from U.S. cities building and expanding their respective convention centers and increased international competition have the LVCVA working to finish expanding the Las Vegas Convention Center by 2020, while boosting international visitation and attracting more conventions and events.
