As promised, I have returned from Las Vegas with tales of something so different, so new and revolutionary, that the potential seduction of it would seem hard to ignore. No, I’m not talking about the new Cirque du Soleil show or that very tall woman in the blonde wig with the purple fingernail polish who seemed so very happy to see me and — I digress. I have ridden that thing which many have told me would save the Dulles Rail project from certain fiscal failure. Yes, I have ridden the Las Vegas monorail — the first commercial use of this mode of transportation in the United States (you don’t pay to ride the ones that Disney operates). More than that, I have talked to the people who are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the system, who tell me that things are great, and that they have great plans. So what does this have to do with us?
There are those who still see a monorail connecting the West Falls Church Metro station with Dulles Airport. Their case was bolstered substantially when project planners decided not to tunnel through Tysons Corner in an effort to save money. Instead, they want to put those heavy railcars on elevated tracks that would run above all of those cozy pedestrian walking areas and green spaces that are so key to the feel-good nature of this project. The problem is that Metro cars go THUNK, CLANG and EEEEEEEE and make all sorts of sounds that we haven’t seen in print since the Batman comics. Monorails go VVVVVVVVVV and can pass within 10 feet of you without making you raise your voice in conversation. Monorail, supporters argue with good evidence, can be constructed more cheaply.
Here’s the history: The owners of the Bally’s and MGM Grand hotels got together several years ago and decided to build a monorail that would run between their two properties. These hotels were on the same street, and it was a fairly short distance between them. Even still, the concept of linking two casinos was pretty radical. Instead of reinventing the wheel, so to speak, they bought some used equipment from the folks at Disney who apparently had some extra monorail cars and track sitting around.
After some time, these owners bought additional properties, and the line was expanded to essentially go from the east side of downtown Vegas to the west side. As with many such ventures, the thing was a wreck; it didn’t work very well and was shut down for about six months. Millions of dollars in private funding (the casinos tend to have some cash available, though they have yet to thank me for my donations) was spent to get the thing up and running, though it was done with bonds that were floated through the state, though the state has no liability. A big part of the problem in the Las Vegas monorail is that it hasn’t been marketed very much or very well. That’s going to change now that a full-time staffer has been brought on to devise a plan. There are still big challenges in marketing in a city where it seems that every inch of space is dedicated to advertising, but this person believes there are other ways to get attention for the system.
Questions, comments, random musings? Write to [email protected].
