Designing a Rapid Transit System for Las Vegas

Las Vegas is a city that has everything - thrills, entertainment, food, and of course a lot of people. But what it doesn't seem to have despite all of the tourists and the people that live there is a mass transit system. Let's design one!

As always, leave a comment down below if you have ideas for our future videos. Like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon so you won't miss my next video!

=PATREON=

If you'd like to help me make more videos & get exclusive behind the scenes access and early video releases, consider supporting my Patreon! Every dollar goes towards helping my channel grow & reach more people.

=ATTRIBUTION=

=COMMUNITY DISCORD SERVER=

(Not officially affiliated with the channel)

=MY SOCIAL MEDIA=

=ABOUT ME=

Ever wondered why your city's transit just doesn't seem quite up to snuff? RMTransit is here to answer that, and help you open your eyes to all of the different public transportation systems around the world!

Reece (the RM in RMTransit) is an urbanist and public transport critic residing in Toronto, Canada, with the goal of helping the world become more connected through metros, trams, buses, high-speed trains, and all other transport modes.

[RMTransit]

Since a lot of people are commenting, the monorail presents a lot of issues. It mostly travels behind casinos on one side of the strip, making access very difficult. It also runs a bad service at a pretty high fare. Vegas ideally would have more speed capacity and connectivity!

[bdautch]

I remember when Vegas added the monorail. Taxi drivers lobbied to prevent it from accessing the airport, knowing that it would threaten their fares.

[acenine]

As a civil engineer, born and raised in Vegas, nothing would make me happier than being able to work on a project like this.

[robojimtv]

Much as I deride it, the Dubai Metro is a perfect model for Las Vegas since it runs along a hyper highway (Sheikh Zayed road) and all its stops tend to be specific attractions. It even has a "gold class" car. The real problem there is that you can't go anywhere actually residential easily. But they could easily fix that with shutles at each stop.

[RMTransit]

It's worth mentioning Las Vegas does have an interesting priority bus system, but it doesn't replace the need for rapid transit.

[LiamMonteyrie]

9:35 I actually really like that idea, it would be a very Vegas-y thing to do. The station outside New York-New York could look like a typical green-painted station you'd see in Brooklyn.

[seavicvan]

I've watched City Nerd's videos on Las Vegas and the surrounding area, and it seems that convincing the residents and businesses that a good functioning metro system is preferable to the stroad filled landscape currently there would be as big a hurdle as actually getting it built.

[JD_MeanGruene]

This plan would be so beneficial for Vegas. Getting a ride share after an event at Allegiant Stadium is a nightmare. The biggest obstacle would it would have to work with new F1 race track down the strip. Like you said, A/C stations and safety doors would be a must in Vegas.

[mwjones]

The original plan for the Las Vegas Monorail was to go "down the strip" much like you propose, along with connecting to the airport. As others have commented, the taxi/limo drivers fought against the airport extension, while the casinos themselves fought against the line being built on the strip, as it would "obstruct the scenic view of the strip".

Thus we end up with the current monorail service that connects some hotels (who each payed for a station behind their hotel, and thus other hotels in between are not connected directly), and the only major non-casino "destination" is the Convention Center. The private operator (thus far Clark County/City of Las Vegas has not had a stake in its operation) has plans to build the extensions exactly as you're proposing, continuing North to Downtown/Fremont Street, South towards Brightline, East to UNLV/Airport, and a second main line running up the back of the West side, thus serving those casinos, but doesn't have the finances to do the construction (as a private entity, it is expected to operate at a profit, which it struggles to do).

The ideal solution would be for the County/City to take ownership of the monorail, allowing the private operator to continue operating on their behalf, and build all of the extensions, making the system more usable. The city could then use the permitting process to require that all casinos as they're renovated be connected to one of the existing stations. They might still be behind the strip, but at least people can get where they're going a lot quicker.

[Nunavuter]

I'm glad that RM Transit and City Nerd are cooperating.

[TheOfficialChillClan]

I love las vegas and the only thing it is missing a great public transit option. The downtown-strip-airport corridor is one of the biggest no brainer investments for the city. I am baffled as to why this hasn't happened yet. Casinos on the edge of the strip would get a massive boost as well as both center-strip and downtown casinos who's visitors tend not to visit the other because of the distance. I love how they can build a 3 billion dollar LED sphere and a 50 story screen but haven't dared to build an automated light metro.

[kasswuit]

As a Las Vegas local, this is definitely something I would be excited for. traffic is getting worse and worse despite the city spending millions on widening the highway (and already plan on widening it even more by the downtown area). If Casinos can be convinced to get behind the idea, then it might be possible, though the airport connection will be harder without stronger political capital due to the Taxi lobby. Some people are also convinced the hyperloop is going to be better (It's not). I just hope we will be able to propose and implement these changes sooner rather than later.

[nelsn]

A Las Vegas Metro would be one of the busiest metros in the US (especially a line that runs through Downtown, The Strip, Airport, and Brightline Station which that line alone would be the busiest on the West Coast).

[transitcaptain]

Given the shots of Vancouver, we need a Skytrain esque system that goes to all the major points, like downtown, the Strip, the airport, and Henderson. The monorail can be a peoplemover feeding to the system

[krmendozaa]

I live in Las Vegas, and I loved this! It’s one of the few things I absolutely hate about this city—lack of walkability and transit.

It would be easy to convert some of our extremely wide roads into bus lanes and possibly even for train tracks. The only thing is that I know Lyft/Uber are big lobbyists to the county (since the strip isn’t actually in the city proper) and I think some hotels too because they want people’s paid parking money.

However, there are more and more people moving here that want this kind of stuff so I’m hoping this can actually happen!

[ricequackers]

Uniquely for Vegas, there's a good opportunity to make the metro a tourist attraction in its own right. Make it a super advanced (fully driverless) super stylish elevated system integrated directly with the casinos with covered bridges and I'm sure tourists will flock to ride it, even if they don't need to go anywhere else.

[mrch]

I love imaging new lines or transit connections. Sounds a really cool series

[DarraghGriffin]

I was in Macau recently and was shocked at how low the ridership of the Macau LRT was, Vegas could definitely look at Macau as an interesting case study and avoid making some of the same mistakes.

The Macau LTR provides a convenient link from the airport/ferry terminal to all of the main casinos but it doesn't compete on price as the big casinos all have free buses.

The LTR is likely to become a more attractive option to tourists when it links the casinos on Cotai to some of the tourist destinations on the Macau peninsula.

[richtoro]

I went to Vegas in 2021 and was surprised how little the monorail covered, I ended up walking from Downtown to the 8 miles or something, I don't remember the exact distance but it was crazy.

[fyrfx]

Having the signs in multiple languages is a must. I cannot tell you how many times I've been to Vegas and seen foreign people (particularly Hispanic people) asking me for directions in Spanish. I always have to use the little Spanish I comprehend to tell them, "Lo siento yo no fluido en español"