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Conventions not the ticket (Las Vegas monorail)
Las Vegas Review-Journal ^ | 30 Aug 06 | Omar Sofradzija

Posted on 08/30/2006 3:58:53 PM PDT by rellimpank

Monorail strategy coming up short

A little bit of MAGIC doesn't appear to be the cure to a prolonged ridership slump for the Las Vegas Monorail, system officials said Tuesday.

Officials did not expect many new riders to come from the Men's Apparel Guild in California show, known as MAGIC, despite the estimated 105,000 attendees expected at the Las Vegas Convention Center through Thursday.

MAGIC is one of the biggest annual conventions in Southern Nevada, and the Convention Center is central stop on the 4-mile monorail line.

(Excerpt) Read more at reviewjournal.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; US: Nevada
KEYWORDS: monorail; williedeeplysaddened
--for the mass-transit fans out there--
1 posted on 08/30/2006 3:58:53 PM PDT by rellimpank
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To: rellimpank

Not having the initial run going to the airport may turn out to be a fatal mistake.


2 posted on 08/30/2006 4:01:16 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Spktyr

never understood why there isn't a train from LA to Vegas? I'd go every weekend if so


3 posted on 08/30/2006 4:08:11 PM PDT by Republicus2001
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To: Republicus2001

There has been talk of a highspeed train from LA to LV, but its hard to maintain the tracks for bullet trains in the extreme temperatures you find in the deserts around Vegas.
Plus the CA environmental wackos would demand 20 years of studies on all the plants and animals that could potentially be effected by a trainline like that. By the time the environmental wackos and politicians get through with it, there would be no financial way to pull this off.


4 posted on 08/30/2006 4:14:28 PM PDT by Proud_USA_Republican (We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good. - Hillary Clinton)
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To: rellimpank

There MUST be a way to shove mass transit down everyone's throat. Damn. Europe does it, come on, you idiots!


5 posted on 08/30/2006 4:35:53 PM PDT by Jaysun (I have the body of an eighteen year old. I keep it in the fridge.)
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To: rellimpank

I went to Vegas earlier this summer and I didn't even know they had a monorail until I saw this article! Sounds like they need to advertise a bit. Going to the airport would also help. The hotels apparently don't believe in airport shuttles. I had to pay $15-$20 each way for cabs.


6 posted on 08/30/2006 4:44:38 PM PDT by 6ppc (Call Photo Reuters, that's the name, and away goes truth right down the drain. Photo Reuters!)
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To: rellimpank
Maybe Willie Green can tell us why this doesn't work. You know, too many people, too short distances, competition from intercity zeppelins...
7 posted on 08/30/2006 4:44:43 PM PDT by Leisler (Islam is the ROP. I know because the President told me so.)
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To: Leisler
----biggest problems:

A) -it doesn't get most people from where they are to where they want to be--

B)--doesn't get used at all by the help at the casinos--same reason
8 posted on 08/30/2006 4:49:14 PM PDT by rellimpank (Don't believe anything about firearms or explosives stated by the mass media---NRABenefactor)
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To: rellimpank

It's a fun ride. Don't visit the strip without taking a spin around the system. They raised the price but it's still worth $5.00 (Same price, ride all you want as long as you don't leave the system.)


9 posted on 08/30/2006 5:41:53 PM PDT by NaughtiusMaximus (WARNING: Alcohol may cause you to think you are whispering when you are definitely not.)
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To: rellimpank
What kind of idiots would build a monorail in a vacation destination in the middle of the desert and not have the train go to the airport?

Why can't I find imbeciles like this?

I deserve to bleed out their bank accounts as much as the next guy.

10 posted on 08/30/2006 6:56:18 PM PDT by sig226 (There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who do not.)
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To: sig226
What kind of idiots would build a monorail in a vacation destination in the middle of the desert and not have the train go to the airport?

The monorail cars are far too small to handle passengers with luggage, anyway. It's more of an automated people mover - a quick way to get from MGM as far as Harrah's in mid-Strip or Sahara in the north. The biggest problem is having to walk about 1/4 mile from the stations behind the casinos out to the Strip itself where everything of interest is. By the time you walk from the front door of Harrah's all the way through to the station, wait for the train, ride south to Bally's station and walk all the way back out to the Strip, you could have simply walked directly from Harrah's to Bally's. And back. ;)

11 posted on 08/30/2006 7:05:28 PM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ("When the government is invasive, the people are wanting." -- Tao Te Ching)
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To: Mr. Jeeves
What kind of idiots would build a monorail in a vacation destination in the middle of the desert and not have the train go to the airport?

By the time you walk from the front door of Harrah's all the way through to the station, wait for the train, ride south to Bally's station and walk all the way back out to the Strip, you could have simply walked directly from Harrah's to Bally's. And back. ;)

Oh. That kind of idiot. Follow the money. Whose kid got rich off this laughable boodoggle?

12 posted on 08/30/2006 7:34:31 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: feefee

ping to self


13 posted on 08/30/2006 7:50:14 PM PDT by feefee (rovian salt carrier)
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To: Republicus2001
never understood why there isn't a train from LA to Vegas? I'd go every weekend if so

There used to be a Union Pacific station at the end of Fremont Street where the Plaza Hotel Casino sets..

14 posted on 08/30/2006 8:00:15 PM PDT by lewislynn (Fairtax = lies, hope, wishful thinking, conjecture and lack of logic.)
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To: hinckley buzzard

--the mayor of Henderson--Jim Gibson-was a rather well-paid employee, as well as being one of the leading lights in the local Democrats--


15 posted on 08/31/2006 5:26:08 AM PDT by rellimpank (Don't believe anything about firearms or explosives stated by the mass media---NRABenefactor)
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To: Proud_USA_Republican

yea I don't believe there is any rail line bewteen Barstow and Vegas...the AT & SF and the SP entered California via Needles (~highway Route 66) as far as I know


16 posted on 08/31/2006 11:48:54 AM PDT by Republicus2001
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To: 6ppc
I went to Vegas earlier this summer and I didn't even know they had a monorail until I saw this article! Sounds like they need to advertise a bit.

The only reason I knew it existed was because I remembered reading somewhere about how stuff fell off of the tracks onto the streets (like little parts of the monorail assembly itself). We went to look at it, and like someone downthread mentions, had to hike through some casino to get to it and then hike back out. We didn't ride it and if we had realized the amount of walking involved, we wouldn't have gone.

Does anyone know why it is kind of hidden away from the strip?

17 posted on 08/31/2006 3:52:52 PM PDT by feefee (rovian salt carrier)
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To: 6ppc
My wife and I took the Vegas monorail when we were there. My reaction: "Cute".

As someone said, if they'd included a link to the airport, it would have been much more successful.

18 posted on 08/31/2006 3:55:33 PM PDT by COBOL2Java (Freedom isn't free, but the men and women of the military will pay most of your share)
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To: COBOL2Java
They could have taken a few lessons from DisneyWorld. A monorail that works at a number of levels, and has been there for years. This one sounds like a planned fiasco, for reasons that are obscure to the outsider, but must have to do with millions of dollars having been misdirected somewhere.
19 posted on 08/31/2006 6:43:28 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: sig226

"What kind of idiots would build a monorail in a vacation destination in the middle of the desert and not have the train go to the airport?"

I always felt the Taxi Cab owners have a fairly strong lobby in Vegas. Think what a monorail to the airport would do to their business.


20 posted on 08/31/2006 6:50:49 PM PDT by Faith-Hope
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