Monorail Expansion Talk

It's a slow Las Vegas news day on this Black Friday, so I had to take a look around to find something to blog about.

I came across this article from two weeks ago about the Las Vegas Monorail and a possible expansions to the line.

Everyone wants to know when the monorail will be expanded to the airport, but the article concluded that an expansion to the airport probably isn't economically feasible. Not to mention opposition from taxi cab companies.

An expansion to Mandalay Bay might be on the table soon though, along with a station at the Sands Expo and Convention Center. If those two expansions are completed the monorail would link the three major convention centers in Las Vegas.

The monorail has struggled with ridership due to its out of the way location behind many of the hotels it serves. Ten years after it opened it's still operational though, and seems to have found a niche serving conventioneers. Linking the convention centers makes sense in that regard.

Not mentioned in the article is a possible monorail expansion downtown to Fremont Street. Although it's probably not happening anytime soon due to cost and routing issues, this would be the most exciting monorail route for the average tourist. Being able to travel quickly between the Strip and Fremont Street for cheap would be ideal. Maybe we'll see it someday, but I'm not holding my breath.