5 ms·

How is Vegas in desperate need of transportation between the airport and the strip? Of all the airports I’ve flown to Vegas was the closest to the downtown core

How is Vegas in desperate need of transportation between the airport and the strip? Of all the airports I’ve flown to Vegas was the closest to the downtown core and had the least traffic.

vikingerik 3y ago
You still have to use a taxi/rideshare service, or rent a car. Compared to other cities, those methods are pretty cheap and accessible in Vegas... but it's still expensive and inconvenient compared to a real railway transit system.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Pretty much. Although I'm not sure how useful it would be to have a public transit system from the airport even in the best case. Given how huge the casino complexes are, you'd pretty much need a stop at every casino (and you still might have a long walk to the front desk as is the case with the little loop train that already exists).
- achates 3y ago
  It's not really more expensive. In Denver it's $10.50 per person to take the train from the airport to downtown. At the time of this post an Uber from LAS to the Bellagio is $11. If you have two people then the Uber is about half the cost per person of the train in Denver.
  - xnx 3y ago
    Taxi/rideshare also takes you right to your hotel instead of a station.
dangus 3y ago
I would imagine that you could cut out 80% of the lanes of traffic on the strip if there was a dedicated train from the airport to the strip continuing to other points of interest for tourists. Maybe you could even make the strip pedestrian-only. The strip is basically a walking area like a theme park, except that it’s cut down the middle by an eight lane road and supplemented with overpasses. Cars get priority over people, who ironically mostly don’t have a car while they’re on vacation in Vegas. This is an avenue that’s already served by frequent double decker buses. The ridership volume is there at least for a light rail tram system.
- ghaff 3y ago
  You might imagine that but I'm very skeptical that 80% or anything like that of the traffic on the strip is people going back and forth to the airport.
  - supertrope 3y ago
    1/3 of urban core traffic is just people cruising around looking for free parking. Then consider how much is unlicensed taxi services like Uber. A lot of urban core traffic is self-inflicted through lack of public transit.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      Vegas doesn't really have an urban core as such and AFAIK, there really isn't free street parking near the Strip (and also AFAIK all the casinos now charge).
  - voisin 3y ago
    Transit from the airport would stop at each casino. That would be the bulk of traffic (inter -casino traffic)
    - ghaff 3y ago
      There are a lot of casinos. You could have a shuttle that serves some subset of hotels. Maybe that even exists today. (There are actually a couple of limited trains today along the Strip.) But people by and large don't love that sort of thing because shuttle buses with a dozen or so stops can take a long time. Rail wouldn't be a lot faster.
  - dangus 3y ago
    Sure, but it’s rather convenient that the route from the airport also takes you up and down the main drag. Let’s say I’m staying at circus circus and I’m seeing a show at the MGM grand. It’s an hour walk, 24 minute bus ride plus the wait for the bus (15 minutes divided by 2 on average), or a 12 minute drive. The Vegas monorail exists but it isn’t anywhere near the actual street where the pedestrians are, and the station locations are so far from where you want to be that you might as well walk. Therefore, if I’m a typical tourist I’m taking an Uber or a taxi for this trip. That’s why the strip has so many lanes of traffic. I’m incentivized to get in a car and I haven’t even left the “theme park” boundaries.

How is Vegas in desperate need of transportation between the airport and the strip? Of all the airports I’ve flown to Vegas was the closest to the downtown core and had the least traffic.

vikingerik 3y ago

You still have to use a taxi/rideshare service, or rent a car. Compared to other cities, those methods are pretty cheap and accessible in Vegas... but it's still expensive and inconvenient compared to a real railway transit system.

ghaff 3y ago
Pretty much. Although I'm not sure how useful it would be to have a public transit system from the airport even in the best case. Given how huge the casino complexes are, you'd pretty much need a stop at every casino (and you still might have a long walk to the front desk as is the case with the little loop train that already exists).
achates 3y ago
It's not really more expensive. In Denver it's $10.50 per person to take the train from the airport to downtown. At the time of this post an Uber from LAS to the Bellagio is $11. If you have two people then the Uber is about half the cost per person of the train in Denver.
- xnx 3y ago
  Taxi/rideshare also takes you right to your hotel instead of a station.

dangus 3y ago

I would imagine that you could cut out 80% of the lanes of traffic on the strip if there was a dedicated train from the airport to the strip continuing to other points of interest for tourists. Maybe you could even make the strip pedestrian-only. The strip is basically a walking area like a theme park, except that it’s cut down the middle by an eight lane road and supplemented with overpasses. Cars get priority over people, who ironically mostly don’t have a car while they’re on vacation in Vegas. This is an avenue that’s already served by frequent double decker buses. The ridership volume is there at least for a light rail tram system.

ghaff 3y ago
You might imagine that but I'm very skeptical that 80% or anything like that of the traffic on the strip is people going back and forth to the airport.
- supertrope 3y ago
  1/3 of urban core traffic is just people cruising around looking for free parking. Then consider how much is unlicensed taxi services like Uber. A lot of urban core traffic is self-inflicted through lack of public transit.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Vegas doesn't really have an urban core as such and AFAIK, there really isn't free street parking near the Strip (and also AFAIK all the casinos now charge).
- voisin 3y ago
  Transit from the airport would stop at each casino. That would be the bulk of traffic (inter -casino traffic)
  - ghaff 3y ago
    There are a lot of casinos. You could have a shuttle that serves some subset of hotels. Maybe that even exists today. (There are actually a couple of limited trains today along the Strip.) But people by and large don't love that sort of thing because shuttle buses with a dozen or so stops can take a long time. Rail wouldn't be a lot faster.
- dangus 3y ago
  Sure, but it’s rather convenient that the route from the airport also takes you up and down the main drag. Let’s say I’m staying at circus circus and I’m seeing a show at the MGM grand. It’s an hour walk, 24 minute bus ride plus the wait for the bus (15 minutes divided by 2 on average), or a 12 minute drive. The Vegas monorail exists but it isn’t anywhere near the actual street where the pedestrians are, and the station locations are so far from where you want to be that you might as well walk. Therefore, if I’m a typical tourist I’m taking an Uber or a taxi for this trip. That’s why the strip has so many lanes of traffic. I’m incentivized to get in a car and I haven’t even left the “theme park” boundaries.