With record numbers of people visiting Las Vegas by car and plane, Clark County officials are looking to extend the nonprofit Las Vegas Monorail line to the Mandalay Bay casino.
This summer, the ad-hoc Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee is expected to include light rail among its many recommendations for state backing after wrapping up a year-long investigation into tourism needs.
And the Clark County Commission, on May 3rd, gave the Las Vegas Monorail Company permission to withdraw money from a $6 million rainy day fund and apply it toward a proposed $100 million line extension to the Mandalay Bay casino and the second-largest convention center in Las Vegas.
MGM Resorts International recently expanded the Mandalay Bay Convention Center to more than 2 million square feet and one of the primary goals of the Las Vegas Monorail is to convey passengers along the Las Vegas Strip to the city’s major convention centers.
When the nonprofit Las Vegas Monorail began running in 2004, its primary destination was the Las Vegas Convention Center. It runs a 3.9-mile route from the MGM Grand to Sahara Avenue. The line struggled and nearly folded during the Great Recession, but has emerged from the financial turmoil with promising ridership numbers.
The monorail operates from 7 a.m. until as last as 3 a.m., has seven stops, and takes about 30 minutes to run its route. A single one-way ticket is $5, for a total cost of $10 to the Las Vegas Convention Center and return at the end of the day. It’s $12 for a 24-hour unlimited pass.
By comparison, a cab ride from the MGM Grand to the convention center and back would cost about $40, plus tips, but could be split among several passengers.
With the Las Vegas Monorail and its likely extension to the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas has an unintentional light rail footprint for an entire loop of the Las Vegas Strip.
MGM Resorts International has a free tram connecting its Mandalay Bay, Luxor and Excalibur casinos on the south side of Tropicana Avenue. Another free tram connects MGM’s Monte Carlo, CityCenter and Bellagio properties, while a third connects the Mirage and Treasure Island casinos.
There are gaps in monorail service along the west side of the Las Vegas Strip, most notably at Caesar’s Palace and the New York-New York casinos. But a general footprint exists for a loop around the Las Vegas Strip, and extending the Las Vegas Monorail line to the west side of the Strip is good start toward completing it.
The Las Vegas city map shows the Las Vegas Monorail line currently terminating at the MGM Grand near the intersection of Tropicana and Koval.
That suggests the line likely would continue south along Duke Ellington Way and in the general direction of several parcels of undeveloped land. There’s even a 38.5 acre parcel for sale on South Las Vegas Boulevard directly across from the Mandalay Bay, where the SkyVue observation wheel was to be built.
If the proposed line extension to the Mandalay Bay is completed soon, a similar line extension would seem possible roughly along the routes of existing monorail lines and tying together many of the largest developments recently completed and underway.
One of the big challenges with the new 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena is how would people come and go. A monorail station there would make sense, and, if feasible, connect to MGM’s Monte Carlo-to-Bellagio and Excalibur-to-Mandalay Bay tram lines.
Extending the line north from the Bellagio to the Mirage and its existing route to the Treasure Island casino would connect all the major casino and convention properties along the west side of the Las Vegas Strip, including Caesars Palace and its 300,000-square-foot convention center.
As Resorts World Las Vegas, the Alon and other large developments proceed and open in the next few years on the Strip’s northwest side, a further extension to the Circus Circus casino and across to the Las Vegas Monorail’s Sahara Avenue terminus could close the loop and connect virtually all of the major properties, convention centers and entertainment venues on the Las Vegas Strip.
That means more rapid movement of tourists, fewer pedestrians, and fewer cars along the heavily congested Las Vegas Strip. It also might give locals an option to park their cars and ride the monorail to work locations.
The current MGM Grand station also might double as the station for a proposed domed stadium on nearby UNLV property, or another spur might run to the Thomas & Mack Center, with a stop at the stadium.
If such a loop were created, a future spur could be added to connect McCarran International Airport and give tourists a potentially rapid option to reach their hotels. Another spur could connect Downtown Las Vegas and the popular Fremont Street Experience.
That would leave the casinos and hotels along the Boulder Strip out of the loop, as well as other off-strip gaming operations.
Many of those cater to locals and might not have as great a need for monorail service, due to greater roadway access to the properties. If growth should continue along the many undeveloped parcels south of the Las Vegas Strip, yet another extension running to the M Resort with a station at the South Point might even prove feasible in the distant future.
As Las Vegas continues to grow and evolve, its current monorail system has weathered a potentially crippling financial storm and proven its value and ability to grow with a more diversified economy on the Las Vegas Strip.
