Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

LAS VEGAS MONORAIL: Holiday operation satisfies officials

Next test for trains comes with Consumer Electronics Show

Las Vegas Monorail officials were pleased that as many as 50,000 daily riders used the line amid the busy New Year's holiday, during which no big problems were reported.

Estimates are that the system carried about 50,000 people from 8 a.m. New Year's Eve to 3 a.m. New Year's Day and 40,000 from 8 a.m. New Year's Day to 2 a.m. Sunday.

"The system operated extremely well," Todd Walker, a monorail spokesman, said Monday. "It couldn't have gone any better for us."

Monday was the 11th consecutive day the monorail was open to the public after a 107-day shutdown because of mechanical problems that had plagued the $650 million system before and after its launch in July.

The shutdown began Sept. 8 after the third instance last year of metal parts falling from a moving train. No one was hurt.

The system reopened Dec. 24 after changes were made and tested.

Many holiday riders appeared to be locals using the monorail to bypass congestion and road closures on and around the Strip related to New Year's festivities.

"There were a lot of people accessing the system at 10, 11 o'clock (New Year's Eve) at the Sahara and Hilton stations," which are logical park-and-ride spots, Walker said.

"It wasn't just the people in those hotels," Walker said. "It was an easy way to access the Strip if you wanted to see the fireworks show."

The monorail shut down as planned from 11:45 p.m. New Year's Eve to about 12:15 a.m. New Year's Day, during which the fireworks show took place, Walker said.

At times, trains that were packed with passengers and unable to take on more bypassed some mid-Strip stops.

"That's what systems do," Walker said. "There's no point in a train pulling into a station when it's completely full."

The next big test for the monorail will be the Consumer Electronics Show at the Convention Center, which starts Thursday and is typically one of the largest annual trade shows in the valley.

"It will show future conventions what the system can do for conventions in providing service," Walker said.

Conventioneers are considered the base ridership of the monorail system, which lost a wheel and was closed during a big show last year, the Men's Apparel Guild in California show.

Convention-goers had to find alternate forms of transportation to and from the Convention Center, where parking is tight and long waits at taxi stands are commonplace.

Walker declined to guess a daily ridership average during this week's convention.

Officials expect the system to average just more than 40,000 daily riders on a typical day.

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority officials were optimistic the monorail would leave a good impression on conventioneers this week.

"We're very excited about the opportunity to showcase it to our convention delegates," said Terry Jicinsky, senior vice president of marking for the authority. "We're confident everything will run in order."

The convention has contracted for shuttle buses to and from major hotels for the convention, Jicinsky said.

In years past, most big conventions have arranged for similar shuttle service.