Question of the Day - 08 August 2020

Plans for an MGM Grand-to-McCarran extension were filed with Clark County in 2007, first reported by our David McKee in the Las Vegas Business Press. However, by 2016, Monorail extension had been superseded by an at-grade, light-rail line, one which would run northward from McCarran to the southwest corner of UNLV, swing west along Tropicana Avenue to the Las Vegas Strip, run north again to Sahara Avenue and end just across Sahara Avenue, at Las Vegas city limits, effectively washing the county’s hands of getting commuters to Downtown.

Tellingly, Monorail CEO Ingrid Reisman, when asked for her long-term vision of the Monorail, said to Vegas Inc., “I expect the system will be connected to Mandalay Bay and Sands Expo. I also envision we will have leveraged those connections to further integrate the system into how meeting and convention organizers plan and conduct events. In 10 years [by 2026], we will have leveraged our connections to conventions to also be connected to the airport.” Sorry, Downtown. Reisman passed that buck to the bus system.

In November of 2017, the Clark County Commission voted to set aside an annual $4.5 million in room-tax receipts for to secure financing for the Mandalay Bay extension of the Monorail. “The public money is not guaranteed to the nonprofit transit company. Monorail officials would have to go before the commissioners to ask for its allocation, and they could be denied at the discretion of the board,” reported the Las Vegas Sun. Monorail officials hinted that the subvention was necessary for the line to remain a going concern. (Uh-oh.) As Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick—who nonetheless voted for the subsidy—said, “You’ve got bigger issues all around.”

The Mandalay Bay/Luxor extension should have been finished by April of last year. Throw in six months of testing and it still should have operational by autumn. No such luck. Had it been done, it would have snaked south down Koval Lane, west on Reno Avenue, south on Giles Street, west on Mandalay Bay Road and across Las Vegas Boulevard to a station between the Luxor and Mandalay Bay properties. 

As for the $4.5 million, that would be tapped if ridership fell below projections or the Monorail missed revenue estimates … gee, like that’s never happened before. The Monorail hasn’t made much sense without a McCarran connection and, absent that, trying to get it Downtown (a lost cause, by all appearances) would be a superfluous expenditure, we’re afraid.

Finally, the pandemic not only shut down the Monorail, but all construction activity related to the Mandalay Bay extension and Sands Avenue Station project, were put on hold and haven't been taken off as of this writing. However, it was reported last month that the Monorail is in talks to sell to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. This makes sense to us, at least in a post-pandemic world. The Monorail moves five million passengers in a normal year, a large percentage of whom are on their way to and from the Convention Center.

At least one LVCVA board member, however, doesn't like the idea. Mayor Carolyn Goodman said the monorail is a "bottomless pit" and suggested that MGM Resorts buy and expand it to service Allegiant Stadium. She told the Las Vegas Sun, "It very much serves MGM properties," but the fact is it doesn't; the monorail stops at only one MGM property, the Grand, which it connects to six Caesars casinos, the Convention Center, Westgate, and Sahara.

We like the LVCVA for taking it over. With Elon Musk's Boring Company finishing its subterranean people mover under the Convention Center and plans to extend the line to the Wynn, Resorts World, and beyond, all non-road "roads" will lead to the giant facility.