We perused the archives of the LVA newsletter (click to read a free sample issue) to refamiliarize ourselves with the chronology here, but were able to confirm without any research that the former Strip Trolley is long gone.
When the Strip Trolley first debuted, we're not sure, but the first mention of it we found back in the archives was back in 2000 when the Strip monorail was announced and both the trolley and the CAT bus were cited as the competition for that ambitious new project. It had certainly been operational for a good many years prior.
Fast forward to 2007 and the big news in transportation was a bizarre union between the Strip Trolley and Vegas.com website, which jointly launched a new Strip tranportation system called the Arrow. It was meant to be a luxury coach that operated the same kind of route as the Deuce, but actually pulled into various casinos to drop off and pick up, and was tricked out with touch-screen TVs that you could use to book show tickets and restaurant reservations (via Vegas.com).
Since the Deuce was already up and running by this point, as was the monorail, the idea seemed dubious and, sure enough, the experiment proved to be extremely short-lived: After the initial launch fanfare, little was heard or seen of the Arrow, and it was all over in a matter of months. Its fares were significantly more expensive than its closest rival, with day passes costing $10, instead of $5 back then for the Deuce, tickets from which have the added advantage of being valid on any CAT bus throughout the Las Vegas Valley.
Today, an all-day pass on the Deuce, or the Strip & Downtown Express (SDX), costs $7, or you can pick up a 3-day pass for $20 -- click here for more details and for links to route maps, etc. For a complete overview of the options for getting around in Las Vegas, and how much they cost, check out our Transportation section, where you'll find all kinds of other useful information, including information on free casino shuttles (there are more than you might think), cab and limo companies, and much more.
