Las Vegas Monorail

[John Bredin]

My wife and I just came home from a trip that ended with 2-3 days in Las Vegas. We stayed at the Sahara, which is on the Monorail. Seeing the traffic on the Strip/Las Vegas Blvd., we chose to see the other casinos, go to dinner, etc. by Monorail. The fare is NOT cheap, although there's a significantly reduced fare for Nevada residents. We paid $47.50 for two 2-day unlimited passes, and it would have been a bit more if we insisted on paper tickets!

The Monorail is significantly faster than driving, but of limited use. It goes no farther north than the Sahara and no farther south than the MGM. In other words, it won't take you to the old downtown nor to the airport. It has a longish stretch without a station where it runs behind the Wynn property. It's great for accessing the properties on the east side of the Boulevard, but as it runs behind those properties, anything on the west side of the Boulevard requires a longish walk.

The big problem was that the Sahara seemingly can’t keep its elevators working. The parking garage had an out-of-service elevator, as did a rooftop pool (which was therefore closed), and two in the tower where we had our room. But those all just meant longer waits for the working elevators and going to another pool. The pain in the ass was the busted sole elevator to the Monorail station. As best as I could determine, the Monorail is responsible for the elevators inside fare control, but the property hosting a station provides the elevator to get to the entrance level outside fare control.

The Sahara's Monorail elevator wasn’t roped-off as busted when we bought our passes. I have a phobia of down escalators, and the Sahara Monorail station entrance is at least three stories up. We ended up catching the Monorail at Sahara but returning by getting off at the previous station and walking. At least the walking route from Westgate to Sahara was good, with a full sidewalk and pedestrian crossing lights. I saw a fair number of people on the Monorail in wheelchairs and on mobility scooters, and I hope they weren’t trying to get to the Sahara!

On that point, a dishonorable mention to the Monorail itself for not posting a notice in its stations that the Sahara station had a busted elevator for at least two days. Real rail transit systems post on their websites, and/or on a whiteboard in each station, a list of stations with inoperable elevators so riders can plan accordingly.

All in all, I'd still take the Monorail if/when I go back to Las Vegas, but it's par for the course (expensive and seemingly gee-whiz and fancy but worn in spots) of Las Vegas itself.

 

[caravanman]

I have often taken the "Deuce" bus service when in Las Vegas, but that is slow! I think mainly it seems that the folk trying to use the Deuce bus are simply not familiar with using a bus at all, more than the traffic density causing the delays.
(The regular cross town buses seem to board passengers much more quickly, as normal anywhere.)

 

[Asher]

My wife and I just came home from a trip that ended with 2-3 days in Las Vegas. We stayed at the Sahara, which is on the Monorail. Seeing the traffic on the Strip/Las Vegas Blvd., we chose to see the other casinos, go to dinner, etc. by Monorail. The fare is NOT cheap, although there's a significantly reduced fare for Nevada residents. We paid $47.50 for two 2-day unlimited passes, and it would have been a bit more if we insisted on paper tickets!

The Monorail is significantly faster than driving, but of limited use. It goes no farther north than the Sahara and no farther south than the MGM. In other words, it won't take you to the old downtown nor to the airport. It has a longish stretch without a station where it runs behind the Wynn property. It's great for accessing the properties on the east side of the Boulevard, but as it runs behind those properties, anything on the west side of the Boulevard requires a longish walk.

The big problem was that the Sahara seemingly can’t keep its elevators working. The parking garage had an out-of-service elevator, as did a rooftop pool (which was therefore closed), and two in the tower where we had our room. But those all just meant longer waits for the working elevators and going to another pool. The pain in the ass was the busted sole elevator to the Monorail station. As best as I could determine, the Monorail is responsible for the elevators inside fare control, but the property hosting a station provides the elevator to get to the entrance level outside fare control.

The Sahara's Monorail elevator wasn’t roped-off as busted when we bought our passes. I have a phobia of down escalators, and the Sahara Monorail station entrance is at least three stories up. We ended up catching the Monorail at Sahara but returning by getting off at the previous station and walking. At least the walking route from Westgate to Sahara was good, with a full sidewalk and pedestrian crossing lights. I saw a fair number of people on the Monorail in wheelchairs and on mobility scooters, and I hope they weren’t trying to get to the Sahara!

On that point, a dishonorable mention to the Monorail itself for not posting a notice in its stations that the Sahara station had a busted elevator for at least two days. Real rail transit systems post on their websites, and/or on a whiteboard in each station, a list of stations with inoperable elevators so riders can plan accordingly.

All in all, I'd still take the Monorail if/when I go back to Las Vegas, but it's par for the course (expensive and seemingly gee-whiz and fancy but worn in spots) of Las Vegas itself.

Yeah, it’s always a gamble when going to Vegas. Hope you had a great time and won enough to cover the Monorail.

 

[George Harris]

I can think of near nothing to say positive about this monorail or monorails in general. It is actually a very old concept, going back to the late 1800's, with one of the first being a suspended monorail in Germany.
For the most part they are science fictioney fantasyland things which does make them appropriate for Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas one, and most others use rubber tires on a concrete beam, so there is no advantage in reduced rolling resistance or energy consumption for the monorail concept. These things give safety people nightmares. Think about emergency evacuation. No practical provision even possible unless you choose to build a separate parallel walkway structure, which would completely negate the reduced visual impact of the monorail structure versus that of an ordinary elevated transit line. You could possibly provide a means of evacuation through opening the ends, and then the patrons could walk along a relatively narrow beam with no hand rails on either side. But, since the vehicle wraps around the guideway, there would be no access to street level until the fire department gets there with their ladder trucks. During testing of this system there were a few instances of vehicle components falling onto the street below. Now, think about switching tracks. Generally the only ways possible are a flexible beam or a pair of beams, one set for one track and one for the other where the whole mechanism can move sideways to meet the intended track.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Good points George!

And the Vegas Monorail is Pricey and Imconvienent for most folks visiting the Strip.

i've only been on 3 Monorails, the one in Vegas, the Seattle one and @ Disney World.

I consider them Theme Rides, not Transportation Vehicles, and feel that these 3 fit this to a Tee!

 

[west point]

The monorail at EWR airport has the beams attached together. The beams are 180 degrees on top of each other and rotate longitudinally on 2 king pins to either have straight beam showing or diverging beam showing.

 

[Old MM]

Monorail could have been done so much better. Great memories using it in mid 2000s.
And no thanks to the tunnel, will never ride.

 

[BCL]

The reason why the location is awkward is because the casinos complained that a location along the Strip would block the views of their properties. There are still apparently plans to extend to the airport but they haven't gotten very far.

I've taken the monorail and I found it OK, but I was staying at the SLS (now the Sahara again) and used it several times to get to the MGM. But from the airport I took the bus - not The Deuce, but a regular route (108 I believe) that cost maybe $2. I found the bus pretty convenient given where I was staying.

 

[George Harris]

The monorail at EWR airport has the beams attached together. The beams are 180 degrees on top of each other and rotate longitudinally on 2 king pins to either have straight beam showing or diverging beam showing.

Can't make a mental picture of what you are describing. Regardless, still more complex than a standard railroad turnout.

 

[joelkfla]

Can't make a mental picture of what you are describing. Regardless, still more complex than a standard railroad turnout.

The same type of switch is commonly used on roller coasters that switch from forward to reverse motion, and sometimes to switch to a storage track. Here's Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom at WDW:

 

[George Harris]

The same type of switch is commonly used on roller coasters that switch from forward to reverse motion, and sometimes to switch to a storage track. Here's Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom at WDW:

Got "error occurred"

 

[joelkfla]

Got "error occurred"

Try copying this:

https://youtu.be/acZxqjvlxwE?t=80

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I consider them Theme Rides, not Transportation Vehicles, and feel that these 3 fit this to a Tee!

Why is a monorail a theme ride and an amtrak train not?

I love monorails! I've been on the one in Vegas, Seattle, Disneyland, Disney World, Hersheypark, Mud Island, Newark Airport, and Jacksonville. I think they are great.

The Vegas system is expensive because it's private.... I've always enjoyed it and been able to use it to get around pretty easily. I really wish they could run to the airport.

 

[cirdan]

I can think of near nothing to say positive about this monorail or monorails in general. It is actually a very old concept, going back to the late 1800's, with one of the first being a suspended monorail in Germany.
For the most part they are science fictioney fantasyland things which does make them appropriate for Las Vegas.

The one in Germany, I guess you mean Wuppertal, is AFAIK the oldest still in existence, but not the first ever built.

Possibly that honor goes to the Latrigue monorail in Ireland, which was powered by quaint steam engines with twin boilers, one slung on either side of the rail.

The Irish love to entertain one another and tourists with stories and anecdotes, and there is one about the monorail that one day a piano had to be transported. The piano was stowed on one side of the rail, and in order to maintain balance, a cow was placed on the other side. After the piano had been delivered, the cow was sent back, balanced by two calves. Finally the two calves were sent back, one on either side.

What exactly the supposed advantage of adopting this system was for this line, is unclear. For example road crossings were extremely complicated affairs.

The line was abandoned and dismantled long ago, but a short replica section has recently been constructed as tourist attraction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lartigue_Monorail

 

[MARC Rider]

Why is a monorail a theme ride and an amtrak train not?

Some of this has been mentioned previously but:

1. The most common variety consists of trucks using rubber pneumatic tires on a concrete guide beam. This increases fuel/electricity consumption as compared to steel wheels on steel rail, which has much lower rolling resistance than even the best pneumatic tires.

2. Turnouts (switches) are complex and expensive to build, thus preventing any flexibility in routing or development of a network of lines. It would be very difficult to build crossovers at various points on the line to allow passing. This is a trivial exercise in conventional rail.

3. I think they were also sold as being cheaper to build and more aesthetic than conventional elevated railways. I think that would in comparison with elevated railways built in the early 20th century, like the Chicago Loop. Modern elevated railways have a footprint and general appearance that's indistinguishable from most monorails. I'm not sure about construction costs, but I can't see them being too different, except that building turnouts for monorails would be more expensive than conventional rail turnouts.

Thus, a monorail might work fine at an amusement park with one or more simple lines not connected to each other, but not so well as a real-world transit system, plus they're probably not any cheaper to build, either.

 

[joelkfla]

One of the advantages of rubber-tired monorails was the reduced noise level. I think the successor in that respect is the APM, most of which also run on rubber tires. In fact, much of the public from my generation calls all APMs monorails.

 

[cirdan]

Gadgetbahn salesmen like to sell monorails and other gadgetbahns, typically not backing their value proposition up with any long term commitment to the platform, while on the other hand using proprietary solutions to lock in customers and prevent them shopping elsewhere. It is very rare for one generation of monorail rolling stock to be retired when it reaches the end of its lifecycle and seamlessly replaced by another. Even extensions to existing systems seem quite rare. Classical rail systems, on the other hand have no trouble expanding and competitively acquiring rolling stock from a range of different manufacturers and operating it all along side one another seamlessly. Not to mention the second hand rolling stock market that allows rolling stock to be transferred from one system to another thanks to a common set of standards. Again not something you commonly see happening with monorails.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Why is a monorail a theme ride and an amtrak train not?

In addition to @MARC Rider's comments other than the Tokyo monorail none of the versions I've ridden really went anywhere. It was just a short and simple loop that mostly competed with walking whereas in the case of Amtrak the next stop over is usually too far to walk and mainly competes with driving. Also, IIRC unlike Amtrak and airlines most monorails shut down completely during the pandemic.

I love monorails! I've been on the one in Vegas, Seattle, Disneyland, Disney World, Hersheypark, Mud Island, Newark Airport, and Jacksonville. I think they are great.

In places like Vegas and Seattle I barely even noticed the monorail. Maybe if it was routed through busier areas and integrated with other forms of transportation it would start to resemble a mainstream travel option. The problem for monorail is that it has always been a niche product with limited support that has little chance of competing with steel rail in terms of cost, efficiency, and interoperability.

The Vegas system is expensive because it's private.... I've always enjoyed it and been able to use it to get around pretty easily. I really wish they could run to the airport.

For the longest time the easiest way to get around Vegas was driving thanks to so much free parking. After Caesars and MGM bought everyone out parking was repurposed as a proft center and now it's Uber/Lyft. The Vegas monorail and tram are useful to a degree but the routing, frequency, and lack of airport access (or other meaningful connections) really hurts their use case. Maybe some day.

 

[BCL]

Why is a monorail a theme ride and an amtrak train not?

I love monorails! I've been on the one in Vegas, Seattle, Disneyland, Disney World, Hersheypark, Mud Island, Newark Airport, and Jacksonville. I think they are great.

The Vegas system is expensive because it's private.... I've always enjoyed it and been able to use it to get around pretty easily. I really wish they could run to the airport.

It's been publicly owned for a few years.

https://press.lvcva.com/news-releas...ompany/s/c0bffe48-4665-4523-9525-8b0d20df2621

 

[pi314]

I rode the Vegas monorail a couple times and found it to be mostly useless. Overpriced, poor frequency, and limited access are the main reasons.

Even if your destination is the designated named casino, you'll likely still have a soulless labyrinthian corridor hike to get to or from the station stop, let alone a longer walk if you're visiting somewhere else nearby. "Nearby" is a relative term on the strip.

Forget renting a car - traffic is ridiculous for an out-of-towner and then find an overpriced garage to stick it in and walk another half mile anyway? The bus is its own special version of hell. It's pretty much a cab or uber to get anywhere you can't walk to.

If they were serious about relieving congestion and making Vegas accessible, they'd have an elevated light rail down the center of Las Vegas Boulevard that went out to the airport.

 

[tgstubbs1]

It will be good when the Brightline trains are operating, and it will be interesting to see if there is a line set up to accomodate visitors from the new train station.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

It's been publicly owned for a few years.

https://press.lvcva.com/news-releas...ompany/s/c0bffe48-4665-4523-9525-8b0d20df2621

ah I didn't know that. Sold during Covid times I see. Plenty of people were using it when I was there this summer so hopefully it has a good future.

It's pretty much a cab or uber to get anywhere you can't walk to.

And many of the Uber pickups are down a soul-less hallway and into a specific level of a parking garage. I've used the monorail to get around everywhere I needed to go except for the Rio which I used the bus to get to and then Uber back.

Ideally, the monorail would have been built right down the middle of the strip and run to the airport as well. I agree, that would improve things.

 

[George Harris]

One of the advantages of rubber-tired monorails was the reduced noise level. I think the successor in that respect is the APM, most of which also run on rubber tires. In fact, much of the public from my generation calls all APMs monorails.

That steel rail disadvantage fairly well disappeared with use of welded rail.
All rubber tire systems have higher energy consumption, and hence greater heat generation than steel wheel on rail systems due to greater rolling resistance.

 

[jis]

That steel rail disadvantage fairly well disappeared with use of welded rail.
All rubber tire systems have higher energy consumption, and hence greater heat generation than steel wheel on rail systems due to greater rolling resistance.

I think the Rubber Tired APMs are mostly a cheap way to satisfy the yearnings for Gadgetbahn so one can claim that something unique has been achieved. even if it is less energy efficient and therefore less sustainable, and produces more toxic dust. Just IMHO of course.

 

[George Harris]

Try copying this:

https://youtu.be/acZxqjvlxwE?t=80

Got it. Still far more complex than a standard railroad turnout.