Trying to get a cab take the Las Vegas Blvd from downtown to the strip.

Just back from the Golden Nugget and went on the strip for a few dinners and shows.

Almost all the cab drivers,  an Uber driver and our paid Limo to the airport refused to go from the Nugget to the Las Vegas Blvd to the Strip which is a 15 minute ride at most. And some were not very nice about it.

Instead they preferred to go to on to  I 15 which took a half hour or more and a larger charge. We are considering renting a car again if the charges comedown from parking.

Some said too much construction but we saw none and it was not congested!

 For the very reason you state about this obvious collusion (plus the expected tip), I always rent a car. There are ways to avoid parking fees, such as having a MGM and/or Caesars credit card for their strip properties and using the valet services at some Downtown properties. Many off strip properties have free parking.  Also, with a car one can come and go anytime to any destination without having to waste time and money using taxi's or ride share vehicles. 

First of all, if you hire a cab, you control it. That includes telling him to drive around in circles for an hour if you so choose. You pay the fare, so you pick the destination AND how you get there. Period.

That said, with the general traffic fluctuations on the Strip, especially with the recent Formula One preparation bullshit, the drivers you talked to may have had genuine, legitimate reasons to avoid the Strip. I know that if I was driving from downtown to any Strip location say, south of Sahara, I would NEVER take the Strip, no matter what time of day it was; I would always take I-15. The vast majority of the time, it'll be faster.

When your driver took I-15, and it took longer than you expected, it's quite possible that the alternative (using LV Blvd.) would have been worse. You don't know that it would have been the better alternative, but your driver did--he would have been talking to other drivers and his dispatcher and would know which route was preferable.

A lot of people think there's a vast conspiracy theory out there so cabbies can overcharge you and rip you off. But what most don't get is that the cabbie knows more than you about current traffic conditions, and the best and quickest route might be one way on Tuesday and another way on Wednesday. All you know is what it was like six months ago when you visited Vegas.

With the Formula One crap in particular right now, only a complete loony bird would try to drive the length of Las Vegas Boulevard and expect to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time.

You have already agreed on a fee before you step into your Uber or limo.  It's in these drivers best financial interest to get you to your destination as quickly as possible.  Conversely, it's in a taxi drivers "short term" interest to long haul you...or keep you in the car as long as possible.

     Exactly. 

And it's in Lyft's and Uber's short-term interest to triple your fare during "surge pricing" times. It's so much fun fun fun to be charged $25 for a trip and $75 for the same return trip three hours later.

Oh, and let's not forget the delightful surprise when the driver can't find you/doesn't show up and a charge gets posted to your credit card.

Boilerman is quite wrong when he paints the very popular but utterly incorrect picture of thieving cabbies plotting to "long-haul" everyone. Cabbies would rather have a bunch of short trips than a few long ones, because the flag drop charge is more than several minutes of driving earns.

A lot of people whine about so-called "long-hauling" when they don't understand the various routes and traffic in a town they don't live in. I remember all the WHINING when the bypass to I-215 from the airport was completed. Turistas could see that they were being driven SOUTH from the airport when they could clearly see that the Strip was to the NORTH. Therefore, they were being cheated!!!!!! Everybody's a crook! Whine whine whine! And then they'd get out of the cab and go feed Junior's college fund into the 88% return slots (indicating that their tolerance for being "ripped off" was selective).

I just wanted to add that it took me more than an hour to drive from the Tuscany to Treasure Island (midweek during the afternoon) last visit. So the cabbie may have been telling the truth. Chunks of the strip were one lane with them still allowing vehicles to go in and out of casinos.

And it really shows just how much pull the rich elites have when that much disruption is created to throw a funsy big party for them that will last what, one day? Meanwhile, Ordinary Joe's vacation is being massively fucked up--all summer.

Vegas doesn't give a rat's rectum about you, folks. Not any more.