Monorail ridership up; red ink lingers
Las Vegas Monorail Co. saw nearly 2 million riders walk through its turnstiles in the first quarter of 2008, but it still failed to generate enough money to break even.
The ridership numbers constitute a 19 percent increase over the same period last year, according to figures released Friday by the light rail company.
In the past three months, the monorail has brought in nearly $80,733 a day in fare revenue and seen an average of nearly 22,000 riders daily.
The average fare collected per passenger is $3.68. At that rate, the monorail would need about 33,424 riders each day to generate the $123,000 in fare revenue required to balance the monorail's budget, according to a 2006 estimate by Fitch Ratings, a credit ratings firm based in New York.
Recent ridership figures are significantly below that point. The monorail averaged 19,736 daily riders in January, 20,528 in February and 25,437 in March.
March's average was the highest since July. The monorail's strongest ridership months traditionally have been between March and August.
Ingrid Reisman, vice president of corporate communications for Las Vegas Monorail Co., said there has been a steady increase in use by the convention travel industry, with such ridership up 27 percent in the quarter compared to the same period in 2007.
"We will continue to transport visitors and help reduce congestion in the resort corridor with the monorail's current route along the Las Vegas Strip, as well as with the planned expansion to McCarran International Airport," Reisman said.
The monorail company is trying to obtain financing to build a half-billion-dollar extension to McCarran. Officials hope that will increase ridership and lead to a profit for the privately funded company.
Since opening to the public on July 15, 2004, the $650 million, four-mile line on the east side of the Strip has failed to generate a profit.
Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904.
