1. The Bus: Travel friends assured me that public transit from the airport in Vegas was nearly impossible to find, a conspiracy to make you take a cab. This made me wildly determined to find the bus, get on it, and get off at my hotel. I’d looked it up while still at home, I knew the airport line went right by the Hilton. It wasn’t easy to find, that’s for sure — with all the bus signs there wasn’t one that said “public transit.” The guy at the information desk pointed us to the bus stop and moments later, really, mere moments, the bus appeared and delivered us, in the company of a chatty Laughlin singer, right where we needed to go. A dollar seventy five.
2. The Taxi: The driver had no idea where we needed to go. He headed the correct general direction, but then, made a huge swooping curve through the old convention center parking lot. He followed that by not stopping when we asked him to, rolling at 5mph into a back lot full of homeless guys. “Uh, not here,” we said, and a few hundred yards later, we were paying too much money for kind of lousy service. Plus tip. Apparently, everywhere you go by taxi in Vegas costs you 20 bucks plus tip.
3. The Deuce: This huge double decker rig runs up and down the strip — one trip, three bucks. Behind us? A guy from Baltimore, talking talking talking about his “acting” gig as a scarer at the haunted house. In the stairwell, two young guys and a girl carrying bottles of beer. On the PA system: “THAT IS NOT AN OPEN CONTAINER I SEE UP THERE! LISTEN UP DUDE, THERE IS NO DRINKING ON THE BUS!”
4. The Monorail: It seems like a great idea, but it doesn’t really go where you need to go. Why, for example, doesn’t the Monorail go to the airport? Why doesn’t it run parallel to the strip? Why did we need to walk a mile to get to the closest stop? Why is it so expensive? It’s five bucks to take the Monorail. That’s too much. Though what can I say, I love taking the Monorail. It’s a train. It’s on a raised track. It’s the future from the past. I love it.
5. The Airport Shuttle: I was a bit worn out and I was thinking, oh, all right, I’ll just shell out the twenty for the cab. But when I walked out the front of the hotel, the door man saw me and said, “Airport?” while waving towards the shuttle driver. Wow, that was a piece of luck. I gave the driver six fifty and got on the short bus. The driver was headed directly to the airport, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars, do not make six or seven annoying stops at hotels not my own. Handy. Serendipitous. Cheap enough.
I understand your pain. It is for these reasons, and a few others, that we drive to Las Vegas from Scottsdale, AZ.
We put in a wonderful audio book, set the cruise on 75 (max speed in AZ), and relax our way to Vegas while enjoying a good novel.
I am enjoying your blog.
LOVED this. Saw it on Twitter.
I LOATHE the transportation system in Vegas. Totally agree with you about the cabs, the bus and the Monorail. They have the best hotels in the world and the WORST transportation system.
Pretty sure it’s all a scam!!!
I’m a new fan of your blog.
Love your review of each type of public transportation. I would think that being a main tourist city, the public transportation will be readily available. Guess they put all the money to the hotel.
Thank you for this rundown! But oh, for you to have written it in 2005, when my mom and I did a Jewish genealogy conference weekend at the Tropicana…in July.
You’re jealous, and I get that. But truly, you haven’t lived (or died) until you’ve walked the entire strip from end to end in 120 degree heat.
Coincidentally, I just learned about the Vegas monorail yesterday from an episode of “Stephen Fry in America,” and it had seemed like a brilliant idea. (Accent on the “seemed”.)
Thanks for saving me future time, money and fainting spells.
The more things change the more they stay the same. The bus will cost a bit more today $6 or 8 bucks all day. Still can’t drink on the bus.