Ah, yes, what indeed? This was a question that did the rounds earlier this year in the offices of LVA and to which the answer proved strangely elusive. For those of you who don't know anything about this odd saga, let's backtrack.
As we reported in the Today's News column on Nov. 7, 2007, "Today marks the launch of a whole new transportation option for the Las Vegas Strip, as the Strip Trolley and Vegas.com launch their new collaborative project -- a system of various sized buses that will compete with the Deuce double deckers, offering riders the chance to get on and off at numerous stops on both sides of the Strip and make dinner reservations and buy show tickets and nightclub passes while on board, via touch-screen TVs. The new venture, named the Vegas.com Arrow, replaces the old Strip Trolley. Like the old trolley buses, it links to downtown and now also links to the Las Vegas Monorail, plus stops at most major Strip hotels."
Fares for this new venture ran $2.50 for one ride or $10 for an all-day pass, which included the monorail. This compared (and still does) with Deuce fares of $2 for a one-way ride, $5 for an all-day pass, and $40 for a monthly pass (which all include the run of the CAT bus routes, too).
The launch came with much fanfare and the integration of bus/monorail/on-board shopping sounded like it might be a winner. However, although we recall spotting the odd Arrow here and there, suddenly we were conscious of it being more conspicuous by its absence and when we tried to look it up on the Vegas.com Web site, we found no trace of its existence. By the same token, the Vegas Strip Trolley's Web site suddenly reappeared, with a slightly flashier new look, but no substance (i.e., the route map's gone and you can't buy any tickets for it).
So, we dug deeper. Initial calls and emails to both Vegas.com and the Strip Trolley went unanswered to the point where we began to wonder if we'd just dreamed the whole thing. We hadn't.
In what turned out to be a portentous statement, Brent Bell, president of Whittlesea Bell, the transportation firm that owns the Las Vegas Strip Trolley company, had commented on the Vegas Arrow launch day that "Competing against public transportation is extremely difficult." Too difficult, it transpired.
In June of this year we got the following note from Bryan Allison, senior director of marketing at Vegas.com, in response to our email querying our own sanity and requesting information: "It absolutely did run -- I have photos and video to prove it! Ran for many months, sold lots of rides, etc. But in the end it just couldn't compete with the Deuce. Private vs. public -- you know the drill."
And an email to Bell Trans last month elicited the following reply: "Currently the Trolley is operating the charter division only and is in the process of reorganization." If you're interested in hiring it for a group sight-seeing tour or wedding party, here's a link to the form you need to fill in.
So, there you have it. If the Trolley ever gets up and running commercially again for the general public, we'll let you know and add it back to our Shuttles & Car Rentals listings. With its three separate routes, including the Convention Center loop, we know it was a cheap way to navigate the Strip and get downtown, especially for conventioneers.
