During a trip to Las Vegas this past week, in my spare time I took to evaluating the fixed transit options.
While I did observe the BRT options in action, like "The Deuce" and "Sahara", I did not ride them due to time constraints and logistics. The BRT that serves the strip looks very cool with the high windows & space age styling, MJ already has a great article that covers them here:
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/-0001-nov-bus-rapid-transit-vs-commuter-rail (http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/-0001-nov-bus-rapid-transit-vs-commuter-rail)
I rode 3 fixed transit option along the strip.
The Las Vegas Monorail (discussed briefly on MJ here: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php?topic=17647.0 (http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php?topic=17647.0))
http://www.lvmonorail.com/ (http://www.lvmonorail.com/)
The Aria Express
http://www.aria.com/amenities/transportation (http://www.aria.com/amenities/transportation)
The Mandalay Bay Tram
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandalay_Bay_Tram (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandalay_Bay_Tram)
These fixed transportation options are similar yet unique in certain ways and this was not only my experience, but how I think Jacksonville can learn from this implementation.
(http://www.lvmonorail.com/wp-content/themes/twentythirteen-child/images/route-map.jpg)
Las Vegas Monorail:
Running along the backside of the "MGM" side of the strip, this monorail runs from the SLS down to the MGM Grand. While the ROW essentially runs along the back of all of the casinos, the signage on the strip side is visible and obvious. If you think it looks like the Disney Monorail, you are correct. They sourced the exact same model from Bombardier that Disney did.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7668/17172509285_e0748a3d1c_c.jpg)
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8740/16984764758_29d76f00f5_c.jpg)
All the stations were well lit, signed well and looked very similar to any of our JTA Skyway stations in format.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7639/16984763648_c91c795578_c.jpg)
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7664/16984990890_2586273398_c.jpg)
All ticketing at the route stations were electronic except at the end terminals. No card, no ride.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7707/16550106564_1430bb763a_c.jpg)
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(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8787/17172507455_677248391c_c.jpg)
As you can see I boarded at the station at Harrah's Casino. While a train pulled out just as I came down the escalator, with 5 minute intervals it didn't take long for the next one to arrive.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8746/16984989350_3621742fe2_c.jpg)
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8765/17170878272_b649a0bdda_c.jpg)
While the Vegas Monorail has taken some criticism for lack of use, I was hard pressed to tell. I rode ride at 5PM when many of the casinos and restaurants were making shift changes. Our train was 60-70% full. From just rough observing I would say more than half of the users were there for a convention and the others were a mix of gamblers and casino workers.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8794/16550104934_efaf031d74_c.jpg)
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8706/17146592686_f55094e779_c.jpg)
Summary:
The idea of a common monorail is a great idea but the issue with the LV Monorail is that it is expensive for the distance, very bumpy for a monorail and one key item that I think discourages its use. It is a pain in the neck to get to it. While there are lots of signs pointing the way, you have to walk through the maze of slots to reach them in the back. After all Vegas is about gambling and they don't want you walking through to anything without dumping some cash into a slot. Because the casinos have floor plans that are not direct, to reach the station you have to wander through back and forth aisles, left through retail, right through restaurants before you finally reach the station. This forces one to think that for all of the walking through the casino, you could have walked the sidewalk strip just as fast.
The LV Monorail could have leveraged a huge opportunity, having it pass through the various casinos and having the stations right above the casino floor. Ah! Direct access! Not to be as the monorail is not owned by any one casino operator therefore no one wants to give up any advantage to the competition. The casino owners have designed their properties to keep you inside, not to leave.
There are plans to extend the Monorail from the MGM Grand out to McCarron Airport. But this may be problematic as this would favor the MGM side of the strip and casinos on the other side would object.
The Aria Express:
The newest of the transit options on the strip, the Aria Express was built when the expansive Aria complex was built. The Aria complex is on the opposite side of the strip from the "MGM/Harrahs" side and services 3 major casinos and retail centers, Aria, Vdara and The Bellagio casinos and the Crystals retail center.
The Aria is not a monorail. It is a cable driven tram. This has several advantages. No need for motors in the cars. The electrical is strictly for lighting/cooling. This make the cars lighter and make the supporting infrastructure less demanding (and cheaper). While the LV Monorail (and our Skyway) use poured/reinforced concrete to support the trainsets, Aria Express uses a simple steel lattice on steel or cement pylons.
The Aria Express is free. No tickets required, you follow the signs to the "tram" and it takes you up to the modern stations.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7672/16986347129_4731e9518c_c.jpg)
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8733/16550103044_babde420e8_c.jpg)
The cars look similar to many public monorail designs but are smaller and are closer to a design used on the Skyway.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8791/17172504175_b9b4c7308e_c.jpg)
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7685/16986346059_15c8c90889_c.jpg)
Looking down you can clearly see the cable moving on the rollers, however the cable doesn't "activate" until the next tram reaches a certain distance from the station. This way you don't have a single cable the length of the route which can break.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7616/16984758248_a5004950c8_c.jpg)
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7670/17171913631_70a49cbaa0_c.jpg)
2 sided seating like the Skyway, but the car sets are wider and can accommodate more standees. Helpful during events like One Spark perhaps. Note the trellis style steel to support the track deck.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7677/17171912871_346e1e68c9_c.jpg)
One benefit of the Aria Express is that the station is actually inside the Crystals retail center, barely. You do come inside and must traverse a short hallway, before you come around a corner and voila!
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8705/16965109987_4af3a3d19b_c.jpg)
Summary:
The Aria Express comes closer to the idea of what a tram can provide to service a large space for public access. Its cheap (free) and enters its retail anchor at an actual retail level, but it is plagued with some of the same constraints the LV Monorail carries.
Being owned by a common casino owner, it only services their specific casinos and retail on the route. In fact to reach the Bellagio it has to take a large curve away from the strip to get around the Cosmopolitan. But in the actual casinos it has the same warts and flaws as its monorail cousin. In each casino it serves, the signage is clear and obvious, but you will be hard pressed to reach it in any kind of direct fashion. Indirect aisles and slots make you weave endlessly back and forth before you finally reach the stairs to an actual platform. Becuase the tram only services 3 properties, it is somewhat a short ride and after you finally get on you really begin to wonder why it took so long to walk to it when it walking down the strip is perceived to be faster.
Mandalay Bay Tram:
This is the oldest of the trams and it connects 3 common owned casinos (Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur). It uses the same technology as the Aria Express (cable driven) and the cars are older but still has the futuristic sloping design.
What makes this tram unique is that it is actually convenient. The stations are extremely spartan, are all outside and all reside at the front of each of its venues. This tram was very easy to find, was also free and you didn't have to traverse the slot/retail obstacle course. Clearly this was one of the better layouts that I had seen thus far.
It was late at night when I rode this by foregoing the extremely long cab line, so I didn't grab any photos on the way. The show I attended was just over and it was crowded as people moved on their lodging or parties.
Recap:
While the building of these transit options are a great start to moving people, it was clear that the implementations have issues because they don't leverage the one asset each casino has, the great themed interior designs. The "free" private trams were designed solely to keep people inside the casinos owners properties and have options for no other. On the other side the "public/private" monorail tries so hard to be available to all, but not offend any one casino operator in that it would be considered an advantage.
IMHO, Las Vegas authorities would be better served by making some master planning directives that would allow public or public/private transit be allowed to traverse inside all of their respective casinos, running on a regular schedule so that no one owner is slighted or has an advantage. With the transformation of the strip going since the late 90's to its current corporate owners, they have lost a prime opportunity to take advantage of an appeal that is as universal as Disney, a transit form that drops you off right inside the venue.
What can Jacksonville learn from this?
- If you are going to create a public transit form, it has to have solid long term backing
- It has to have very high density around it (and Vegas qualifies!)
- It can't detract and must enhance your civic visuals
- There must be incentives for business to enhance its design around it (blending)
- The design must match its purpose
Good story!
Nice write up, spuwho.
Do the casinos subsidize the monorail in any way?
I rode the monorail when I was in Vegas back in 2006. I did not know there were any other fixed rail options.
I am curious to see how the monorail in Macau will function in relation to the casinos. It has been a long project beset by delays and controversy, but construction seems to be coming along nicely now. All the casinos currently operate free buses between their establishments and all of the transportation hubs in the city.
Quote from: ProjectMaximus on April 16, 2015, 10:59:03 PM
Nice write up, spuwho.
Do the casinos subsidize the monorail in any way?
I rode the monorail when I was in Vegas back in 2006. I did not know there were any other fixed rail options.
I am curious to see how the monorail in Macau will function in relation to the casinos. It has been a long project beset by delays and controversy, but construction seems to be coming along nicely now. All the casinos currently operate free buses between their establishments and all of the transportation hubs in the city.
The trams are owned by the respective casino owners.
The LV Monorail is a public/private affair.
Per
Wikipedia:
"It connects the unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester, and does not enter the City of Las Vegas. It is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Monorail Company. The monorail is a registered not-for-profit corporation, allowed under Nevada law since the monorail provides a public service. The State of Nevada assisted in bond financing, but no public money was used in construction; citizens may eventually have to pay taxes that fund the monorail."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas_Monorail (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas_Monorail)