Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
In return, monorail sets rider record
Saturday's tally of 45,000 people a one-day high; system official says fixes worked
By RICHARD LAKE
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Tourists Monday crowd a Las Vegas Monorail entrance at the Sahara station. Monorail officials said a record number of riders used the train over the weekend.
Photo by RONDA CHURCHILL/REVIEW-JOURNAL
|
Las Vegas Monorail officials got a welcome surprise on Christmas day: a new one-day record number of riders.
About 45,000 people rode the train on Saturday, its second day back in operation after a 107-day shutdown. Previously, the highest one-day total was about 35,000 riders.
The three-day total ending Sunday was 117,000 riders, system spokesman Todd Walker said.
About 33,000 travelers rode on Friday and 39,000 on Sunday, "which is the second-busiest day ever," Walker said.
"It gave the system a test of how it would work with larger crowds," he said. "The system is built to handle many, many, many more (riders) than that."
He said the system was nowhere near its capacity, which could be as many as 20,000 people per hour in each direction.
The monorail shut down in September after the third incident in which a piece fell off the $650 million system while it was moving.
A redesign of the train's drive shaft preceded months of testing. Last week, county officials gave the go-ahead to reopen on Friday.
"There were no problems with the system whatsoever," Walker said Monday. "It worked great throughout the weekend. ... The modifications worked."
He said the number of riders probably was so high because rides were free, leading many locals to ride the monorail over the holiday weekend.
"That's something we were counting on," he said. "They can spread the word to their friends from out of town" or, if they work in hotels, to tourists.
Today is the last day rides will be free. On Wednesday, the monorail will start charging its base fare of $3 one way and $10 for an all-day pass during the train's daily operating hours of 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.
The monorail's first big test will be Friday, when the system is expected to carry some of the 300,000 revelers expected for New Year's Eve festivities.
The rail line will stay open until 3 a.m. New Year's Day.
The trains will not be running for about 15 to 20 minutes about the time of the midnight fireworks show, Walker said.
The big weekend will be followed by the Consumer Electronics Show Jan. 6 through Jan. 9. That typically is one of the valley's largest conventions.
