Monorails not just for theme parks as Las Vegas rail open on Strip

Good old Kim Pedersen....what was that? The Termite? And his backyard monorail is super cool!

This is a good thing. It'll be especially nice when it connects with the airport. Traffic on the strip stinks. I wonder if they'll offer a casino-hooper pop at some point. (note: Just answered my own question: http://www.lvmonorail.com/ride_01_gettickets.php)*** This post was edited by janfrederick 7/20/2004 11:01:19 AM ***

There is a one day pass already for $10 and a three day pass for $25. (These are introductory prices only good for the first 3 months - after that the prices go up to $15 and $40 respectively).

http://www.lvmonorail.com/ride_01_gettickets.php

EDIT: JF updated the above post while I was finding the information...

*** This post was edited by redman822 7/20/2004 11:17:22 AM ***

Well, the monorail put Ogdenville and North Haverbrook on the map...

Myrtle Beach is looking into one as well. Now if only they'd realize they need the Pavilion where it is....:)

It's ironic that with the Disneyland Monorail in deplorable shape that the nucleus of the Las Vegas system were a pair of trains that Disney had deemed surplus.

What's really scary is that I saw a whole bunch of photos from the Monorail Society of the Las Vegas Monorail. They had pictures from every stop, as well as four of the themed trains. And you thought we had a weird hobby.

The Simpsons episode on monorails was one of my all time favorites.

Anyway, I think those are pretty good rates overall, and they sure beat the crap out of taking cabs all over the place (I know there are busses, but they seem be slow and crowded).

Dang it, Den...that was going to be MY reply. Oh well...I'll just quote a favorit line from the episode:

"...the ring came off my pudding can!"

mOOSH ;)

Ridership was well ahead of projections on the first day of operation; it will be interesting to see if the numbers hold. It's also worth noting that the Las Vegas Monorail operates WITHOUT a government subsidy. To the best of my knowledge, there is only one other public transit rail system in the USA that does that: the Seattle Monorail. Coincidence?

janfrederick, Kim Pedersen built not only the Termite, but also the earlier Lily Street Lightning if I remember correctly. And there is extensive coverage of his Niles Monorail (not to mention the new Las Vegas monorail) on the MONORAIL society web site.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Thanks for the link!

No subsidy? Goes to show you the extent of the demand. ;)

Rideman, it depends on what you mean by Government subsidy...they are currently deemed a Not for profit and pay no taxes... http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2004/jul/19/517195558.html

To me, that's quite a subsidy...

I hear those things are awfully loud. Is there a chance the track could bend?

I'll be very happy once the monorail extends to McCarran and to Downtown. We almost always stay Downtown when we go to Vegas, with one day trip to the strip. The three day pass, even at $40, is much better than taxi fare.

Jimmybob, they're probably pretty quiet...they run on electric motors...as for the track bending...extremely doubtful since it's concrete.

I agree completely, CPLady...but if I heard right, it'll be another 4 years or so - if projections (both ridership and planning) are correct*** This post was edited by redman822 7/20/2004 11:01:37 PM ***

jimmybob,
The track is capable of bending. The switches use bendable track in order to connect two routes of track to one. There is a photo of a switch at the Monorail Society's website. http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/LVO1.html

Also monorails are actually very quiet or at least the ones I've had the pleasure to ride. They are 100x less noisy than your average subway train.

Thanks for the factual responses guys! Perhaps I should have added a Winky to my earlier comment though... those are more lines from the Simpsons' Monorail song :)

Shouldn't we use the money to repair Main Street?

Yes, Main Street's still all cracked and broken, but sorry Word, the mob has spoken...

I call the big one Bitey.