Missing in Vegas

I agree. I take a cab from the airport to Ellis Island or Silver Sevens at a set rate. Last visit it was $23.00. 

I use any LVA coupons or free slot play while I am there. Then I take a Las Vegas bus which costs me a $1.00 to go downtown.

We use Uber all the time in Vegas, haven't used a taxi in years.  We had been long-hauled many times and I remember once or twice having to threaten to call the Taxi Authority (or whatever it's called).  I do remember several years ago reading something in LVA about a survey that showed that something like 20% of all taxi rides in the previous year were long-hauls.  Doesn't surprise me.

Those long-haul accusations are the result of tourists not knowing that the quickest AND easiest way to drive from the airport to the Strip is to head away from the Strip (go south) to the beltway (I-515) and then double back northward. The trip is longer in mileage than it would be to take all surface streets (via Tropicana, Flamingo, etc.). But it's much faster, and before there was zoned pricing, tourists who insisted on being taken the "short" way were surprised to find that it cost twice as much to sit in traffic with the meter ticking as it did to take the so-called "long way around" via the Beltway; the "short" route also usually took longer. he difference was even more stark if you were headed to the north Strip, or downtown.

I lived in Vegas when this airport access freeway was completed. For the next several years, the papers were filled with bitching bitching bitching about cab drivers "long-hauling" people to and from the airport. The result was the zone pricing. But no one should have been whining and moaning. I'm sure that "survey" asked a lot of people who were ignorant of Vegas's geography and traffic patterns.

Kevin, I'm sure that's true, but I know Vegas reasonably well and know that I've been long-hauled several times.  Once was from the airport to Sam's Town, driver wanted to take Tropicana to Boulder Hwy, I insisted on Nellis, had to argue.  Not a big deal but a few more miles (and no traffic on Nellis).  Another time, we were somewhere in north Las Vegas, going back to downtown, driver drove north at least a mile or two before I started arguing, then he turned around.

Ummm...Nellis Blvd is nowhere near the airport...and the only way you would take Nellis to get to Sam's Town is if you originated your trip in North Las Vegas. It's a straight shot from the airport to Sam's Town along Tropicana. That's the obvious route, and the one I would take. It's also by far the shortest and quickest way.

If you're in North Vegas, the easiest route out of there will be to access one of the freeways, rather than take surface streets. But because North Vegas is poorer than the rest of the Valley, and Nellis AFB has choked off infrastructure development in that part of town, freeway access is quite limited. I can think of a LOT of locations where the quickest way south is to first head north to hit a freeway.

The Vegas Valley is not unlike L.A. in this regard: what's the best way isn't necessarily dependent on geography or physical proximity, but rather, freeway access. 

If you feel you have greater expertise and knowledge than the cab driver, then you can simply tell him precisely what route to take, and he will be obligated to take it. That's part of the contract.

We use uber locally & have found uber drivers to be agreeable to a quicker route. This way they get back in the rotation for another fare. 

Taxicab drivers are not only "agreeable" to whatever route you want, they're obligated by contract (the one that exists when you enter their vehicle and request to be taken to your destination) to take whatever route you designate. If you just say your destination, without specifying a route, they will take what they feel is the best route. 

They're just as motivated as Uber drivers to complete the trip and make themselves available for another date.

The primary difference is that the price of Uber (or Lyft) can skyrocket due to so-called "surge pricing." Doesn't happen with taxis.

I drove with Lyft for a while and I was the same way. My default was the route I thought was the fastest, but would go any way the customer asked. 

Before "up front pricing". Some riders preferred the shortest route which was often the cheapest, and some riders preferred the fastest route which sometimes cost a little more. 

A friend rented a timeshare in south Vegas for two weeks, about four miles south of the Strip casino cluster(fuck). He had a pretty good public transit option (an easy connection to the Deuce Strip bus, which runs 24/7), but he wanted to get back and forth quickly to his favorite money sink. So he used Uber. He told me that on Thursday night, he was charged $22 to get there and $24 to get back (6 pm, then midnight). Then on Friday night, he was charged $58 and $66 for the same trip. He felt a surge of anger at the surge pricing.

After calculating that he was going to wind up spending over a grand on Lyft or Uber, he decided to rent a car. And then, of course, he wound up having to pay $25 each time to park at the Golden Commode.

He could have gotten a weekly bus pass for something like $30. $60 total transportation costs for the two weeks he was there. I told him that the real problem was that he was playing on the Strip, and his wallet was doomed no matter what.

Kevin, have a look on Google Maps; South Nellis BLVD is the most direct route to Sam's Town from Tropicana.

In that instance, the driver argued with me for a while but ultimately followed my requested route after threatening to call the taxi authority.