Light rail for Las Vegas is so 18th century
I must have missed a meeting about our local transportation system. Both Richard Velotta and the Las Vegas Sun’s owner recently produced columns favoring light rail.
Because an admittedly much less sexy mode of mass transit — i.e., the lowly bus — is already available, is easily expandable, requires no massive right of way acquisition or environmental impact statements and will only improve as artificial intelligence comes to driving, I have to wonder what the attraction is for a rigid 19th-century train system.
Sad to say, the only reason I can think of is the anticipation of a massive dump of “free” federal money.
Las Vegas has a way of thinking for itself, hence the amazing variety of unique attractions of the Strip. I look forward to seeing wildly painted self-driving buses working to zip our locals and tourists directly to their destinations and to seeing trains in museums where they belong.
