Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum: Replying To Las Vegas monorail - Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

the_traveler, on Sun, Jan 31, 2010, 12:11 AM, said:

It was also below freezing when I was there last month.

Neither of these extremes is a big deal... unless, of course, your a wimp, as most of the people living there are. They just drive to the the hotel next door.

Alice, on Sun, Jan 31, 2010, 08:33 PM, said:

Nevada Driver's License or State ID card.

SanJoaquinRider, on Sun, Jan 31, 2010, 06:08 PM, said:

What kind of documentation did your friend show to prove residency? This pricing system is like hotel taxes, soak the people who can't vote.

And, of course, there are now streets named Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, etc. When I lived there, those streets were there, but they were different names! The first time I went back after all the name changes, I was told to 'follow Dean Martin to the hotel'. I had no idea where I was going, until someone else told me 'the road used to be Industrial'; voila, no problem. Ah, memories...

SanJoaquinRider, on Sun, Jan 31, 2010, 09:08 PM, said:

I have never ridden it, but many of the street names in LV are also the names of the casinos on that street! Such as Tropicana, Flamingo, Desert Inn, Sands, Sahara, etc...!

OK here is my trip report from the Las Vegas monorail.

We boarded at the north end, at Sahara station. The first problem was parking. Sahara's self-service parking garage was closed for construction, and the only parking available there was Valet. Ironically there was a huge parking lot on the south side of the station, totally empty and closed. We decided to park in the Starbucks lot across the street.

My friend is a Nevada resident, so she was eligible to buy two monorail tickets for $1 each. Tourists pay $5 per ride or $15 for an all day pass. Now that is expensive public transportation! We first rode from Saraha to Harrah's/Imperial Palace. We both remarked that the ride seemed a bit bumpy.

We walked from Harrah's to Wynn, which was a reasonable walk. We cut through Harrah's casino over to the strip and walked up to Wynn, about 1/4 mile from the station.

After lunch we rode the remainder of the line down to MGM Grand, stopped there for a short time, then got back on and went back to our car at Sahara.

The views of the city and skyline are pretty good. I was glad to have a local friend with me who could point out all the sights.

I was struck by the station names, with the exception of Convention Center, being named after commercial entities. Most transit systems have stops named after neighborhoods or streets. It would be like the NYC Subway having stops with names like Macy's, Sak's, Waldorf-Astoria etc.

Another odd feature of the stop names, was that every announcement seemed like it was "Harrah's/Imperial Palace Las Vegas", "Las Vegas Convention Center", "Las Vegas Hilton"... Well, duh, what other city could I be in?

Speaking of announcements, they really give it to you. You get music, station announcements, monorail facts, nearby attractions, and advertising blared the whole way. I can imagine I would get tired of that soundtrack if I had to ride it every day.

Overall, a unique and memorable experience for someone who goes out of his way to ride all forms of public transit.

sechs, on Sun, Jan 31, 2010, 12:46 AM, said:

Very true, but it is usually not over 100º in New York either! I lived near LV from 1994 to 2000, and many times it was 110º-120º anytime between May and October! I would not chose to walk 2-3 miles in that heat!

Maybe you folks just need to get out more. I've gone from Mandalay Bay as far as Wynn without using a taxi or a bus or the monorail; that's only about two miles.

The distance from the MGM Grand to Harah's (which is as far as the monorail can get you before detouring to the Hilton) is about one and a quarter miles. Your average New Yorker walks further than that every day.

I will point out that downtown Las Vegas isn't on the strip; so, it's pretty misleading to imply that it has something to do with the walkability of the strip.

The strip, from Russell to Sahara is only about 4.1 miles, and none of it is actually *in* Las Vegas.

I agree with what Eric said. I would not call the Strip walkable!

True there is a sidewalk all along the Strip. I would cross the Strip to go from MGM to New York, New York or from Bally's to Bellagio. However, if it's 110º (or if is is "only" 70º), I would not want to walk from Luxor to Treasure Island!

I forget the length of the Strip, but IIRC from the southern most casino to the northern most casino is something like over 5 miles! And that doesn't include the downtown casinos - which are a few miles from the north end of the Strip!

sechs, on Fri, Jan 29, 2010, 07:43 PM, said:

Aloha

I would like to know your description of "Walkable" Yes there ae good sidewalks, but some of the parking lots are a mile across. Some of the Convention centers are almost a mile under roof. I would also appreciate your definition of "generally slow". When 10,000 people are going to a facility at the same time people will be standing so it cannot accelerate so fast that people fall, whatever that speed is.

Yes its location is inconvenient, but that came about by the Hotel Corporations decisions. If it had run down the center of the strip, as it should have, in my opinion, Hotels that did not invest in the project would have benefited. Secondly Some of the hotels were concerned about their casino's and fancy fronts being blocked.

And remember the Taxis blocked much of the smart route, fearing loss of business. If just 100 people took the monorail from the Airport instead of a taxi the taxi's would loose about $700 per flight in & out of McCarrin Airport.