Getting Around the Las Vegas Strip: Monorails, Trams, Buses, Planning Fails & the Future of Travel

If you want to know how to get around the Las Vegas Strip in 2022, well -- the transportation situation on the Strip changes almost as fast as the hotels do. The resorts are bigger and further apart than you might think, so walking distances can be long!

Your choices used to be taxis or an extremely slow, circuitous rubber-tired trolley. That's an extremely inefficient transportation system for a corridor that boasts 11 of the world's 20 largest hotels, so luckily, things have improved -- but has Las Vegas done enough?

Las Vegas Boulevard is one of the busiest bus corridors in the nation, carrying more passengers (pre-pandemic) than the entire primary bus systems of cities like Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Indianapolis. This despite there being no dedicated transitways on The Strip. Imagine the ridership if transit was faster and more reliable!

This video reviews the bus services, as well as the smaller tram systems (The Aria Express, the Mandalay Bay tram, and the Mirage tram), but really focuses on a singular piece of transportation infrastructure: the Las Vegas Monorail. It's a mode that functions primarily not as public transit, but as a feeder that deposits you deep inside the bowels of a casino resort, maximizing the likelihood of your disorientation and subsequent separation of you from your financial assets -- the thing casinos do best!

We'll do a full ride of the monorail, beginning at the MGM Grand, working our way through the maze of the casino and other obstacles, ride through the NFL Draft fan zone, and finish at Sahara Station.

We'll review the recent history of transit planning on the Strip, current plans to excavate miles of expensive tunnels for Teslas, and recent experiences at the 2022 NFL Draft, where visitors and locals got to experience a car-free Las Vegas Boulevard and maybe dream of a different future.

What will be next for transit on The Strip? Who knows -- so stay tuned!

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[harpake]

Massive car parks everywhere, 10-12 lanes of traffic = not visual clutter. A couple of wires for a trolleybus or a tram line = unacceptable visual clutter. What a hellhole.

[davidbarts]

The visual clutter line about overhead wires is a hoot. Even in less visually cluttered cities, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver are consistently considered scenic and beautiful, yet all three have extensive trolleybus networks (not one but a pair of overhead wires for each route). Yet you just don't hear tourism writers complaining about the wires over the streets.

[cardenasr.]

I read online that the idea of elevated transit in the Strip was rejected due to it being an "eyesore". An eyesore, in Las Vegas. It would ruin the view to the pirate ships, the New York and Paris replicas, the fake roman imperial palace.

Why not make it sleek, neon and Cyberpunk-esque. There is enough visual saturation as is, might as well make it easier to move around.

[johanna]

When I was in LV in 2019 for a concert, my friend and I stayed at a seedy hotel close to Fremont St. The nice security man there recommended that we get on the bus to get to the Cosmo. It was our saving grace, honestly. But having a light rail or something similar on that route instead would be game-changing.

[thomas-aherne]

The Luxor monorail is so good it really saves walking time from mandalay to Excalibur. Also it’s amazing when it’s too hot like when it’s 100+ degrees. Also avoiding and crowded smoke smelling casino floors adds to it

[gregvassilakos]

I am a fan of the monorail and always ride it when I am in Las Vegas, but I concede you are right that the stations are too awkwardly located for it to fill the transit need. I vaguely recall that at one time there was a proposal to build a light rail line along Frank Sinatra Boulevard on the opposite side of the strip from the monorail, which would have resulted in stations that were equally awkward to reach. My understanding is that part of the strip was temporarily closed to auto traffic during the NFL draft, and this proved fairly popular. Perhaps this will ultimately lead to reducing the number of motor vehicle lanes on the strip and running a light rail line along the median. Alternatively, perhaps Mr. Musk will come to his senses and design trains that can run through his tunnels in lieu of cars.

[ddrhazy]

Always a pleasure having you teardown my city, sir.

[Maxime_K-G]

I can just about remember when I was a kid, thinking that the Las Vegas strip was a pedestrian promenade. This was before I knew almost anything about the US but based on the way people spoke about it that was what came to mind, something like the main street of an amusement park but with bigger buildings. I was definitely pretty shocked I had been wrong all that time and seeing just how many lanes there are. To this day I have a hard time wrapping my head around the strip, it seems like a pretty uncomfortable place even if you come by car.

[sluggyyarvin]

The Loop make the Monorail look like a good idea.

[rossmann]

its truly amazing how you make these topics so interesting and engaging. no joke!

[SirKenchalot]

Topic suggestion: Best comeback. London Overground showed how underused railroad lines could be rebranded, upgraded and turned around and there must be reopened, revitalized or rebuilt in-place transit that has also been resurrected right?

[standardannonymousguy]

Thank you for your feedback. Your qualitative research is appreciated. Keep doing what you do. Cheers.

[TheTNTerminator]

I love your Vegas content! I take the bus to work here, and have always been frustrated by the local routes. But your videos allow me to appreciate what we do have while still being critical of the shortcomings

[WPM_in_ATL]

I did not hear you mention that "locals" (with a Nevada drivers license or other state issued ID) can buy single ride tickets for a dollar. The limit is two rides per day, or twenty rides in a ten day period.

I used the monorail twice during a visit to Sin City (April 2022) as I was attending a convention. I used the MGM Grand stop to the LVCC. Though pricey at $5 for a one way ride, my use of the monorail did not merit buying all-day or multi-day tickets. Still much cheaper than a cab or Uber.

With regards to the RTC bus line, you can buy a $5 all day pass which allows you to use the "neighborhood" bus lines, but a premium pass to use the Deuce ($8, allows use of all bus lines in the RTC system). The #108 bus serves the Convention Center, the Airport and the Bonneville bus center downtown. My biggest gripe is that the kiosk ticket machines do not sell single ride tickets. The ticket machine at the Convention Center was broken when I wanted to buy a ticket in late April. The driver was good enough to let me ride to Bonneville where I bought the $5 pass.

[simonmcauliffe]

Another super interesting video. I've been to Vegas, and I just took a taxi everywhere. It never crossed my mind to even try to find public transportation there because it wasn't obvious. I would love a video where you talked about the process, or just your experience in the process of getting new public transportation approved. Maybe even bike lanes? Also, a primer on effective ways that someone interested in transit could help push their local officials to support better transit policies.

[markswayn]

Sydney Australia constructed a monorail in 1988 to link the CBD with a new harbourside development at Darling Harbour. It was an unloved piece of infrastructure, mainly used by tourists. The elevated track was unsightly passing through the narrow streets of the city (one commentator said "It's like fitting spoilers on a Model T Ford") and the vehicles weren't particularly quick or comfortable.
The monorail closed in 2013 and was dismantled. All that remains is a couple of the stations no-one knows what to do with. The monorail was a complete failure as a means of moving large numbers of passengers. Darling Harbour was always within easy walking distance of the CBD and is also now served by a light rail.

[ficus]

Throwing in a request to talk about how urban fabric impacts ability to provide high quality transit. Just wondering if it’s possible to turn sprawl into decent transit. Or vice versa if having good fabric is enough.

[AaronTheHarris]

Wow the 2005 Fixed Guideway Plan was honestly the right approach. And it would have cost 1/10 of what it would cost to build now.

[PaulHo]

I was there the same weekend for CrimeCon, the Draft was a nightmare!

[alainterieur]

8:16 Switzerland does! Well almost. Most transit tickets are $4 or more. Even slow, stuck in traffic buses and infrequent charge that much. It's even worse if you need to go through more than 2 fare zones