Jul 21 2004

Sin City Fast Track: The New Las Vegas Monorail

by Megan Edwards

We’ve been waiting for years, and now at last the Las Vegas Monorail is actually carrying passengers. I decided to wait a few more days after the grand opening to take my own maiden voyage. If there were kinks, I figured, they might have been camouflaged on the days the press was snooping around. I didn’t want a spiffed-up, opening day ride. I wanted the same plain wrapper ride an ordinary tourist gets.

From the moment I set foot on the platform of the Sahara station at the north end of the route, I could tell the Monorail is still in “grand opening” mode. Lots of extra “personnel” were roaming about in their blue Bombardier shirts. Bombardier (and make sure you say “bom-bard-YAY,” not “bom-bard-EER) is the French-Canadian company that operates the Monorail. The friendly workers were making sure people were figuring out how to buy tickets from the automated ticket kiosks, and then how to use them to get through the automated turnstiles to the automated trains. Ticket prices start at $3 for a single ride. I paid $10 for an all-day pass. (”All day” means 8:00 a.m. to midnight, although one of the friendly workers told me that a plan to extend the hours is in the works.)

On the platform, a disembodied sweet female voice announced that trains arrive every nine minutes. Since the platforms are open-air, and the temperature had already risen to well above 100 degrees, this was good news. I waited with a dozen or so other would-be travelers until a sleek white train pulled to a stop in front of glass doors marked “Entrance.” The doors slid apart magically, and after we had, per the sweet voice’s instructions, allowed the other passengers to disembark, we stepped inside the car.

It was cool. Temperature-wise, I mean. And it was also cool in design. Nice big windows on both sides allowed for excellent sight-seeing, and the seats (enough for more than a dozen people in each car) were upholstered in attractive royal blue fabric.

The ride south was a little bumpier than I expected — somehow “Monorail” connotes “smoother than air” — but still quite pleasant. I appreciated immediately just how different a view I was getting of the backside of the Strip resorts and Paradise Road. As I traveled down the route, I was especially entranced with views of the Wynn Las Vegas construction project that aren’t visible from street level. You can also see into guest rooms at Bally’s so well that the guests really ought to start pulling drapes or selling tickets. Other interesting views included the giant swamp coolers behind the Venetian and bird’s eye views of the once-sumptuous houses that bordered the old Desert Inn golf course.

The trains filled to standing-room-only by the time we reached the stops at Harrah’s and Bally’s, and they didn’t really empty out again, even at the end of the line at MGM Grand. I decided to keep my seat and ride north again, something that is perfectly acceptable, even with a one-ride ticket. A “ride” consists of one pass through a turnstile onto a train platform. You can ride back and forth as long as you want, but as soon as you leave the platform, you’ll need a new ticket to get back on.

I got off at the Hilton, mostly because I wasn’t quite ready to head for the Sahara and end my excursion. I figured I’d get on another southbound train, get off at the Convention Center, and then ride north all the way to the end.

Unfortunately, the northbound train suffered a glitch that seemed to affect the entire system, and the nine minutes between trains rapidly became twenty. This probably wouldn’t be a big deal in the fall, but the platform began to get quite crowded with sweating bodies.

But wait! This is Las Vegas, I said to myself. There’s a cool casino on the other side of that turnstile. I moved on down the ramp, entered the Hilton, and found myself face to face with a showgirl and a Ferengi. By the time I’d had some Star Trek beer and schmoozed with a Klingon, I was ready to face the heat on the Monorail platform again.

Whatever the problem was, it was solved by the time I got back up there, and a friendly worker was handing out Mardi Gras beads. I chatted with him about the Monorail, and he told me I really shouldn’t miss the Star Trek train. So far, I had ridden on trains sponsored by Monster drink and VegasFreedom.com, but I’d missed the one dedicated to promoting the Star Trek Experience.

“There it is right now,” the worker said, pointing toward the southbound side of the platform. Thanking him for my beads, I jumped on.

He was right. The Star Trek train was the most entertaining. Instead of a sweet female voice, the Borg gives you instructions, and you can sit under a mural that says “Resistance is Futile.”

Eventually, I ended up back at the Sahara, where I had begun my exploratory voyage on the Las Vegas Monorail. As I drove home, I knew I’d be back, because the Monorail is fun, clean, and, if you plan things right, even convenient. I’m curious as to why there’s no stop at the Venetian or the Sands Convention Center, and I think it would be great if the route were extended to Downtown. In the meantime, though, I’m glad the one-track train is zipping up and down the Strip. It’s quite the ride.

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