|
|
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Big Mistake For Las Vegas Monorail Not To Go To McCarran; Bankruptcy Solution Is Possible
By Robert L. Candiotti
There is an article by Steve Green in the January 29, 2010, Las Vegas Sun titled "Monorail has few profitable
options."
Actually, Las Vegas Monorail has, in my opinion, a strong and obvious profitable option: Which
is it should be extended to McCarran International Airport.
Las Vegas is my home. I ride the monorail
8 to 10 times every week. I generally ride it between Desert Inn Road (the monorail's Convention Center station)
and MGM Grand. By now, I know Las Vegas Monorail pretty well.
Regularly, I read negative comments about Las Vegas
Monorail. I usually conclude these are written by people who (1) do not ride Las Vegas Monorail and (2) do not understand
the pleasure of riding an efficient, safe, clean, enjoyably elevated train that zips through the central core of Las Vegas'
Strip.
Las Vegas Monorail is, I think, a very cool thing. It provides punctual and frequent transportation, as
well as lots of fun.
Yet, I can easily see it has one serious and enduring problem. Las Vegas
Monorail's glaring - and perhaps singular - problem is lack of a train stop at McCarran International Airport.
The fact that Las Vegas Monorail opened for business in 2004 with no stop at McCarran (and no track north into Downtown)
has kept the monorail from blooming and prospering.
The distance from the monorail's final present southern
stop - MGM Grand - to McCarran is probably about a mile. Adding a McCarran Airport monorail station to the train's route (which could
also enable a new and attractive Thomas and Mack/Cox Pavilion station) would create instant excitement and vastly increased
ridership, I believe.
How many people would be interested in paying $5, or thereabouts, to get directly
from McCarran to their Strip hotel/casino in 10 or 15 minutes time? Probably thousands - every single day.
Also, once local people became familiar with the convenience of a monorail all the way to McCarran, many would see the
benefits of leaving their autos at home in order to take the RTC bus to the monorail to McCarran.
Las
Vegas Monorail has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Apparently, U.S. Bankruptcy judge Bruce Markell will rule on February
17 if the Chapter 11 filing will move forward.
Las Vegas Monorail CEO, Curtis Myles, makes sense to me. He says
the company's debts have to be brought under control through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and then the monorail can be positioned
to be extended south into McCarran International Airport.
Not having a McCarran stop from the beginning
was obviously a mistake. But not creating one in the next few years will make it impossible for Las Vegas Monorail to ever
achieve its profitability potential.
And without the monorail, Las Vegas itself will be bereft of an important,
modern, pleasant, civilized and clean form of transportation.
9:23 am pst
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Las Vegas Monorail Extension To McCarran Airport Will Maximize Ridership Potential
By Robert L. Candiotti
The Las Vegas Monorail Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 13, 2010,
but this distinctive and important facet of Las Vegas' transportation infrastructure continues to operate.
This is good.
I live in Las Vegas. I ride the Las Vegas Monorail several times every week, and I want to see
the system thrive - rather than wither.
Las Vegas Monorail gets me to points along The Strip quite rapidly.
Its elevated tracks way above the congested and often tedious streets of the city, and its usually clean and socially interesting
cars, are a fun and efficient way to get around.
As I have said before (you may like to read "Las Vegas
Monorail to McCarran - So Near, So Far" at www.GreenAirport.net/id16.html), it baffles me why Las Vegas Monorail did not go to McCarran Airport in the first place.
What in the hell were
they thinking? What were the compromises that led to no station at McCarran? How could the essential importance of a
McCarran leg have been overlooked?
I realize it is not worth pondering anymore. Those decisions made 10 years
ago are now ancient history.
Apparently, the current executives of Las Vegas
Monorail say that the bankruptcy restructuring will help enable the company to acquire funding for a $500 million monorail
track extension a little bit further south to the airport.
A new stop at McCarran will, I believe, unleash
transportation demands on Las Vegas Monorail that will quickly lead to undeniable and ebullient success.
The McCarran addition to the south, coupled with track extension north into Downtown Las Vegas, will evolve into a
modern, unified method of city transportation that will attract and satisfy thousands and thousands of new riders.
If bankruptcy is required for Las Vegas Monorail's one step back that will enable two steps forward, I say so be it.
Without a stop at McCarran, I sense Las Vegas Monorail will meander off track.
Conversely, with an extension
to the airport, the elevated train will be strongly and happily embraced by a widened market of tourists and locals alike.
10:57 am pst
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Las Vegas And Primm Are As Different As Oil And Vinegar; Yet Make An Appealing Combination
By Robert L. Candiotti
I divide my time between Las Vegas and Primm, Nevada (40 miles to the south on Highway 15).
I like them
both, in different ways. Moving between the two is a lot of fun, and is regularly enriching.
Sure, Las Vegas may
have the new $8.5 billion CityCenter with its expensive and cerebral artwork, but Primm Valley Resort and Casino
proudly displays Bonnie and Clyde's Death Car.
Las Vegas is home to the elegant Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace,
but Primm saves people a lot of money at the Fashion Outlets mall.
Yes, Las Vegas is sprinkled with legendary
gourmet - and, naturally, expensive - restaurants, while Primm can provide an honest meal for a very reasonable couple-of-bucks
at eateries such as Hot Dog on a Stick.
A huge Interstate Highway joins Las Vegas and Primm. I am constantly
traveling back and forth. The easily navigable miles of road connect two different worlds.
In my unexpected
Southern Nevada life, over the past five years, Las Vegas and Primm have been combined, like oil is mixed with vinegar,
to achieve a combination better than each one individually.
6:56 pm pst
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Launch Of PrimmToday.com Has Been Postponed To January 21, 2010, Or Thereabouts
By Robert L. Candiotti
Significant decisions regarding the tone, tenor, topics and tendencies of PrimmToday.com have caused the new website's initiator
to think more deeply than had been anticipated about the launch of PrimmToday.com.
The initiator said in an earlier
blog here (posted November 30, 2009) that the date for introduction of PrimmToday.com was January 10, 2010.
That date has come and gone - with no manifestation of PrimmToday.com.
The current target date for the launch
of PrimmToday.com is January 21, 2010, or around that time.
6:22 pm pst
Friday, January 8, 2010
Nissan LEAF Floats Into Las Vegas; Eventually LEAF Will Waft All The Way To Ivanpah Valley
By Robert L. Candiotti
On January 5 and 6, the Nissan LEAF all-electric, zero-emission, five-passenger, five-door, medium-size hatchback was in
Las Vegas while on its nationwide 22-city publicity tour organized by Nissan.
LEAF was on view at the Celebrity
Car Showroom of the Las Vegas Palazzo Hotel-Casino.
Though it could not be touched while under the showroom spotlight,
all its doors were opened and people could get close to it. It was not difficult to get a sense of what
LEAF is about.
Nissan says LEAF is ushering in "the zero-emission era" with regard to mobility.
Two Nissan representatives were easily accessible to answer questions and, naturally, to speak enthusiastically about LEAF's
future.
It is being said that LEAF will begin to be marketed for sale in North America - as well as in
Europe and Japan - at the end of 2010.
However, it may not be until 2012 when LEAF sales numbers get into the high
thousands.
LEAF was unveiled by Nissan last August, about two months after the company announced approval of a
$1.6 billion loan from the U.S. Government to modify its Smyrna, Tenn., auto manufacturing plant to produce zero-emission
vehicles and lithium-ion batteries to provide the electric cars with power.
Projected to be sold for
$25,000 to $33,000, this writer thinks LEAF looks good and has strong potential.
For the time when Southern
Nevada's Ivanpah Valley Airport opens around 2018, one can easily imagine large numbers of 100% electric cars parking
in designated airport zones that allow for easy re-charging of LEAF-type batteries.
Nissan's commitment
to the all-electric LEAF hatchback, the car's affordable pricing, nice design and "real-world"
travel range of 100 miles (which reportedly covers the distance needs of a majority of car drivers) cause one
to want to believe this can be a real beginning of mass transformation to zero-emission automobile travel.
6:34 pm pst
|
|
For a summary of the history of the need for Ivanpah Valley Airport, click here.
|
