Advertisement

Las Vegas Monorail system in dire straits

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- More than two and a half years after its official debut, the Las Vegas Monorail is plagued by decreasing riders and revenues.

The New York Times reported that since its 2004 debut, the privately owned monorail system has struggled to find its audience, and now a $500 million extension has been proposed to cure the system's woes.

Advertisement

That expensive extension would be privately financed and extend the system's track by four miles to McCarran International Airport by 2011.

While the extension has received preliminary county approval, many experts have questioned the Las Vegas Monorail Company's ability to complete the project, the Times said.

"It is inherently preposterous to make this system work," San Francisco transportation consultant Jon Twitchell said. "Transit has not paid for itself in this country since 1945. It is always publicly subsidized. Eventually, the public will end up paying to prop this up."

The newspaper said that while original predictions had daily monorail use at 53,000 passengers, an average of only 18,197 riders used the service each day during December 2006.

Latest Headlines

Advertisement

Trending Stories

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement