BIKE: Re: Poor little monorail, nobody loves it.

[Nawdry]

At 01/27/2005 14:01, Fred Meredith <bikin-fred> wrote:

>Just passing on the news from a reporter friend in Vegas.


Appended below is additional news on the decision to cancel the planned 
extension.

First, on the face of it, an average ridership of 37,500/day would be 
considered excellent for almost any new North American rail or guideway 
transit service.  The problem in the Vegas monorail case is unrealistically 
high expectations - the Vegas monorail has consistently been portrayed as 
something of a "miracle", breaking the "norm" by attracting so many riders 
(at a quite high fare level) that it would make a "profit" and pay for its 
operation plus pay back its private investors.  This required ongoing 
revenues from ridership of over 53,000/day (the LVMC has lately been citing 
the lower figure of 40,000, but it's unclear what exactly this would cover 
- especially since the 53,000 figure was based on average fare of $2.50).

As those who have followed the debate on this will recall, monorail 
enthusiasts have repeatedly brandished the Vegas monorail as an example of 
some kind of miraculous capability possessed by this technology, while I 
have consistently voiced skepticism.  Now, it appears, what would otherwise 
be regarded as indeed a phenomenal success in terms of ridership and high 
revenue is being branded a failure.

This is unfortunate, but it's an example of what happens when enthusiasm 
eclipses reality.

LH

http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2866085&nav=168YVgGd

KLAS-TV
January 27, 2005

Downtown Monorail Plans Scraped


(Jan. 27) -- Plans to build a downtown extension of the Las Vegas
monorail have been scrapped after city and transportation officials learned
the federal government will not be funding the project.

A spokeswoman with the Regional Transportation Commission of
Southern Nevada says a major factor in failing to get federal money
turned out to be poor ridership numbers in the first phase of the monorail.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)


***************************************

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Jan-27-Thu-2005/news/25744616.html

Thursday, January 27, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Funding denial puts monorail extension in doubt

By OMAR SOFRADZIJA
REVIEW-JOURNAL

--------------------------------------------------------------------
[PHOTO]
The Monster Energy monorail train sits at the Bally's/Paris station after it
lost a part in September. Federal authorities have told local transit officials
that they won't help fund a proposed downtown extension.
Photo by John Gurzinski.
--------------------------------------------------------------------


Another part appears to have dropped from the troubled Las Vegas
Monorail: the rail line's proposed downtown extension.

Federal authorities have told local transit officials that they won't help fund
a downtown leg now, if ever, putting the 2.3-mile extension's fate in
serious doubt.

"Hopefully, someday the monorail will come downtown," Mayor Oscar
Goodman said Wednesday. "Unfortunately, because of the breaks they've
had in the beginning, they haven't been able to demonstrate reliability to
justify funding."

Regional Transportation Commission officials were counting on more than
$321 million in federal grants and loans to cover the cost of the $450
million extension.

"In the president's '06 (fiscal year) budget, we do not have funds," said
Ingrid Reisman, a Transportation Commission spokeswoman. "Does that
mean there's absolutely no project? Not necessarily."

Monorail officials say they'll leave it up to the commission to decide
whether they want to later revive the downtown leg, which would have run
northward from the existing monorail's Sahara station to Main Street and
then to Fremont Street.

"Nothing is finalized until it's finalized," said Todd Walker, a monorail
spokesman. "You can't rule anything in and anything out."

Walker said the downtown plan was never key to the monorail's future. It
was being done, he said, at the behest of commission members.

"Our focus is and always has been on the successful operation of the
phase that's been built privately and is in operation today," Walker said.
"We'll continue to work with the RTC on any future expansion, whenever
that may occur."

Commission officials were informally told of the funding rejection in recent
days by the Federal Transit Administration. A formal written denial, along
with reasons for the denial, is expected sometime next month.

Officials said it appears that the rejection was spurred by the existing
monorail's inability to prove its financial viability.

The monorail's original 4-mile line, located behind the east side of the
Strip, was closed for most of last year due to mechanical problems.

On three occasions in 2004, moving trains shed metal parts onto the
ground below. No one was hurt by the falling parts, but each resulted in
lengthy system shutdowns, the last of which -- a 107-day closure -- ended
Dec. 24.

That kept monorail backers from proving the line could draw the projected
daily ridership of around 50,000 passengers. And strong ridership is
needed to repay most of the privately funded segment's $650 million
construction costs.

That segment was completed using private grants and more than $400
million in bonds, the latter of which are to be repaid mostly from farebox
revenue.

"Before there could be any expansion of the system, it would certainly be
expected that there needs to be sustained operations over a period of
time," Walker said.

The original line's problems also postponed work on the extension, which
was scheduled to begin in late 2004 in hopes of opening the new leg in
2008.

For the downtown extension, farebox revenue was slated to repay a $143
million taxpayer-backed loan to be used for construction, along with a
$178 million federal grant.

"What we need to focus on right now are addressing the concerns of the
federal government, and that the current monorail is working on making
itself financially feasible," Reisman said.

The Transportation Commission has already received -- and mostly spent
-- a $22 million federal grant earmarked for preparatory work on the
extension.

Reisman said there are still several options for a downtown extension.

The commission could reapply for federal dollars later this year as part of
an annual aid request. Officials could also begin working on other ways to
link the existing monorail line to downtown using other means, such as
express buses or light rail. Another option is to walk away from an
extension altogether.

"All those options are possibilities," Reisman said.

If officials reapply for federal funding, a decision may not come before
early 2006, and money may not be in hand until later that year at the
earliest.

One option that is highly unlikely is finding immediate replacement dollars
for the federal funds from private sources. Various financial rating firms
put the bonds used to fund the existing monorail on watch status due to
the system's failings, making more bonds a tough sell.

The prospects of scrounging up other federal dollars in Washington
appears equally iffy.

Federal transit officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday
afternoon.

Officials with the offices of U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. and U.S. Rep.
Shelley Berkley, D-Las Vegas, who had been helping shepherd federal
aid to the monorail, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The monorail extension had been touted by city officials as a potential
shot in the arm for their downtown redevelopment efforts.

Goodman said he may prefer an express bus link as a replacement. "It
gives us much more malleability than a monorail," he said.

But the mayor doesn't see the monorail extension as forever dead.

"I see it happening in the not-too-distant future. It's a natural. It 
definitely
should take place sometime, but they have to prove themselves,"
Goodman said. "I wish the monorail well. In the meantime, we'll go
another route."


Staff writer J. M. Kalil contributed to this report.

***************************************

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-other/2005/jan/27/518194005.html

LAS VEGAS SUN
January 27, 2005

Las Vegas Monorail won't get funds for extension

Feds deterred by malfunctions, low ridership

By Stephen Curran
<stephen.curran>


Citing mechanical failures that resulted in shutdowns and lower-than-
expected ridership, the federal government will not provide public funding
for a long-planned extension of the Las Vegas Monorail.

Valley transportation planners had hoped to use more than $320 million in
Federal Transportation Administration funds to extend the monorail from
the Sahara two miles to downtown Las Vegas as early as 2007.

Ingrid Reisman, a spokeswoman for the Regional Transportation
Commission, said the Federal Transportation Administration, the
Transportation Department agency that would have overseen the roughly
$450 million monorail extension, contacted RTC leaders earlier this week
with the bad news. The formal recommendation is not expected until the
Transportation Department publishes a notice in the Federal Register next
month.

"We haven't seen anything in writing, but there have been discussions
about this fairly recently," Reisman said. "We were notified as a courtesy
by our contacts (in the FTA) before it goes in the Federal Register."

Todd Walker, a spokesman for the monorail company, said the decision
would not affect operations on the system's existing line.

Meanwhile the company has no immediate plans to expand the system in
any direction -- such as another proposed extension to McCarran
International Airport -- until long-term ridership trends can be established.

"The goal has always been to have the system up and running during a
set period of time," he said. "We're cautiously moving forward with
expanding the number of people who use the system. We're happy with
where we're at and we want the system to grow."

The RTC, which can submit another request for funding next year for the
2007 federal budget, had publicly distanced itself from the monorail after a
string of high-profile malfunctions pushed back the system's opening date
more than six months. Monorail officials later shuttered the existing $650
million four-mile system for more than three months as engineers
investigated how several 6-inch-wide washers fell from a moving train in
September.

That closure came less than a day after the privately financed system
reopened following its first closure, which began after a 60-pound wheel
assembly fell Sept. 1. That closure lasted six days.

Reisman said the lengthy closures and the almost $9 million in lost
farebox revenue made the system too financially unstable for the federal
government.

"We've said all along, and the federal government has told us all along,
that the initial phase has to provide for appropriate levels of ridership to
support that (funding) model," she said. "We were told the current level of
ridership doesn't support that model."

Before the closure, the monorail was operating 16 hours a day and
shuttled an estimated 30,000 riders a day, about 55 percent of its initial
ridership goals. Since its reopening Dec. 28, monorail officials estimate
crowds from two large conventions have bumped that average to 37,000
riders a day.

If it had been eligible for federal money, the monorail would have run
alongside portions of a proposed light rail that would carve its way from
Henderson, along the west side of the Strip, finally ending in North Las
Vegas.

The RTC in October said it would weigh a possible extension of existing
bus service or its MAX service to shuttle people from the northernmost
monorail platform to downtown, a move Reisman said is still on the table.

No likely alternatives had been pinpointed by Wednesday night, Reisman
said.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he wasn't surprised by the
decision given the system's previous problems and that he had already
begun reviewing cheaper alternatives.

"As far as I'm concerned, I wish the monorail well ... but we are not going
to mourn it," Goodman said.

RTC General Manager Jacob Snow said this morning that the federal
government's decision did not spell the end of the RTC's relationship with
the monorail company but it did leave the immediate future of the
monorail uncertain.

"We were disappointed," he said of the funding denial. "It's just a project
we are going to have to give more time. ... It's not over, but it's not clear
where we go from here."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.


***************************************

Las Vegas SUN
January 26, 2005

U.S. Won't Fund Vegas Monorail Extension

By ADAM GOLDMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS


LAS VEGAS (AP) - Plans to extend the Las Vegas monorail to the
downtown area have been scrapped because the federal government
won't provide money for the nearly $400 million project.

Ingrid Reisman, a spokeswoman for the Regional Transportation
Commission of Southern Nevada, said Wednesday that low ridership on
the troubled first phase of the monorail was a factor.

The monorail began running a 3.9-mile, Z-shaped route in July behind
some of the Las Vegas Strip's largest hotels and plans called for a 2.3-
mile extension.

Organizers had hoped the $650 million monorail would cover its debts and
operating budget by attracting 19 million to 20 million people riders a year.
But mechanical problems shut down the monorail for nearly four months
before it finally reopened in late December.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he's been looking at cheaper,
alternative funding for a light-rail system or high-tech buses.

Cam Walker, head of Transit Systems Management, the private company
that operates the monorail for the nonprofit Las Vegas Monorail Co., said
his company has no immediate plans to extend the monorail in any
direction.