Vegas's Next High Roller: a Monorail Washington Post Tuesday, April 23, 2002 Western Cities Look at Mass Transit as Road Gridlock Worsens LAS VEGAS -- The trains will zip through the heart of the Strip, curving along an elevated track that rises 50 feet above the ground and dimming their lights on nighttime trips so passengers see the city flash by in all of its gaudy neon splendor. "We want them to think it's like a ride at Disneyland," said Bob Broadbent, who leads the project, "not public transportation." Las Vegas, which never stops thinking big, has just embarked on its most ambitious, costly attempt to solve a problem that once seemed impossible to have in this sprawling desert valley: gridlock. It is building the nation's largest monorail system. Plans call for the line to stretch up to seven miles by the time construction ends later this decade, with stops at most casinos, downtown and the local convention center. Sleek bullet-shaped trains will be run by computers, not drivers, and travel up to 50 miles per hour on a winding route above roadways. There will also be unusual safeguards. Since more than a few riders here are bound to be sloshed by more than a few drinks, every stop will be walled and sealed in glass, with doors timed to open only at the moment trains arrive -- so no one in a stupor falls from a platform. "We had to keep the nature of the city in mind," said Todd Walker, director of communications for the company managing the monorail. The $650 million project is unique -- it will be America's first urban monorail built on a grand scale. But it is not just another Vegas thrill. It is also a sign of a budding revolution in the West. The region is growing faster than any other part of the country. And its population boom is creating so much congestion on roads that for the first time many western cities are getting desperate to coax residents out of their cars and on to some form of mass transit. In Phoenix, officials are making plans for a 20-mile commuter rail, now that voters there have taken the rare step of raising taxes to help pay for the project. Denver is extending some of its new commuter rails and a proposed monorail downtown is a subject of fervent debate. Salt Lake City just opened it first light-rail line. In Seattle, one of the few places in the country besides theme parks that already has a monorail, a measure to expand the one-mile line is heading to the ballot this fall. "Forget about the mentality that this is the frontier. It's not anymore, it's getting crowded," said Robert Dunphy, a senior fellow at the Urban Land Institute. "Cities in the West are realizing that they've got to get more serious about transit. And in some places, they're starting from scratch." No place is trying harder to change its mindset than metropolitan Las Vegas. Its population has nearly doubled in the past decade, and many of the 1.5 million people now living here work or play along the four miles of the Strip. Then there are the tourists. About 35 million of them also swarm the city every year, and most of them arrive or get around in cars. The local bus service has three times as many riders as it did a decade ago. Roads have been widened, and widened again. Local leaders have even gone to the extreme of paying some residents to stop driving. One new program is a citywide game of chance: Anyone who comes to work by bus, bike or commuter van at least four times a month is eligible to enter a weekly drawing that rewards 100 people with $100 each. Dozens of local companies are participating in that campaign by recording how their employees get to work. But the streets are still clogged. Even one recent Monday afternoon, when Las Vegas seemed to be taking a rare nap, several dozen cars were still stacked bumper-to-bumper waiting for traffic signals near the Strip to change. Traffic gets choked so often on Las Vegas Boulevard, which rolls through the center of the Strip, that transit officials no longer print schedules for that bus route. It's anyone's guess when a bus will arrive. At some hours of the day, and especially on weekends, walking from one end of the Strip to the other can take less time than driving. But the gridlock also fouls sidewalks with exhaust fumes. Many residents here say they have stopped coming downtown to restaurants or shows because they are sick of the traffic. "We don't have a way to solve this problem anymore just by continuing to add more roadways," said Jacob Snow, general manager of the Regional Transportation Commission here. "We've become a big city, and we have no choice but to deal with this in a big and a different way." Las Vegas has been contemplating a monorail for nearly 30 years. Twice, plans to build a system similar to the one now being built, collapsed. But the latest attempt appears to have all the financing and political support that it needs. The first four miles of the rail project are being funded entirely with private money raised through tax-free bonds. The second phase, which will add another three miles to the line, will take $300 million in public money. Eight casinos, worried that traffic is beginning to hurt business, also are spending about $5 million each to build monorail station stops on their properties. The monorail's initial line is scheduled to open in two years. Eventually, its backers hope to extend the system to the airport and to the city's expanding suburbs. Monorail officials predict more than 19 million people a year will pay $2.50 for a ride around town that will be cheaper than cabs and faster than buses or cars. The trains will come a few minutes apart and be able to transport 400 people. But the project, in keeping with the Vegas spirit, is a big gamble. Several neighboring casinos already are linked by free trams that are popular, but Las Vegas has never placed a larger bet on a form of public transportation that is foreign to many of its residents and visitors. Other western cities are facing similar doubts that rails will cure their growing problems with gridlock. In Arizona, voters placed a 20-year limit on the transportation tax they approved for a rail system, in case it flops. Some western lawmakers also say such projects are unnecessary or too expensive. "This is the kind of place where the car has always been such a big part of your life, some people hardly even know that we have buses," said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. "We're trying to give them incentives to get out of their cars, but it takes more than a pittance. It could be very difficult to change people's habits. But there's no question we'll have to if we keep growing like this. What's happening is phenomenal, and there's no end in sight." Planners already are working on strategies to make the monorail enticing. New technology may allow passengers to ride trains by using the same key card they use for their hotel rooms, with charges showing up on their bill when they check out. Frequent riders also may get discount passes. Walker, a Las Vegas native, expects locals to board, too. "It used to take only about 10 minutes to get pretty much anywhere in town," he said. "Now, you almost always have to figure that it's going to take at least half an hour. People are really getting tired of all the headaches of traffic." A nonprofit corporation whose board is appointed by Nevada's governor is managing the monorail system. The state legislature also backs the project. Delegations from other western cities have come to study its blueprint. Monorail officials say they are confident the system will eliminate millions of car trips. They are already promoting it with heavy doses of Vegas glitz. The groundbreaking ceremony last fall featured an Elvis impersonator and showgirls. "Everyone has known for years we need something like this," said Broadbent, the monorail chairman. He is a former county commissioner in Las Vegas who saw the earlier projects fail. "This is just the first time we've got just about everyone to agree it's feasible. We really don't have any other choices. "We're growing so much," he said, "it has to be successful." Service Sectors City News Service 04/25/2002 A system of five service sectors the MTA claims will be community-based and better able to manage bus routes in Los Angeles County was approved today by the transit agency's board. Marc Littman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the hope is that it will allow the agency to "run a more efficient service by decentralizing MTA operations." The MTA board voted unanimously to create the service sectors and governance councils to run them. The budget for the sectors will be established next month, Littman said. Managers of the service sectors "would be able to change the schedules and the routes to meet community demands," Littman said. The MTA's central office still will be responsible for scheduling and running Express and Rapid buses, Littman said. The sector managers will be responsible for local bus lines, shuttles and operation of the MTA's Dial-a-Ride program in their service area, he said. The new service sectors will be for: the San Fernando Valley, the San Gabriel Valley, the Westside and Central Los Angeles, the South Bay and the southeast part of the county. The board members had differences of opinion about the composition and pay schedules of the governance councils of the sectors, but a preliminary plan for the councils was ultimately approved by the board. On a 10-2 vote, the board decided the councils will comprise elected officials and/or private citizens. The MTA board will appoint members to the councils based on the recommendations of local government associations, Littman said. The service sectors for the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys are scheduled to begin operating July 1, and the MTA plans to get the other sectors going by the end of the year. The MTA board also voted 10-1 to allocate $58.6 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1 to Access Services Inc., a company created eight years ago to transport disabled people. Littman said the company's costs have been rising and the MTA will be giving the company $5 million more than was penciled in for this year. To reduce costs, the company has a plan to eliminate a service it now runs that allows riders to call and get picked up the same day for $1.50 to $4, said Ruben Gonzalez of ASI. The federal government's Americans with Disabilities Act only requires transportation agencies to provide next-day service, Littman said. The MTA board will decide in May whether to allocate more money to ASI to bolster services beyond the level allowed for with today's allocation, Littman said. LA County San Gabriel Valley Gold Line phase II moves one step forward Thu Apr 25, 2002 After more than 2 dozen public meetings, last night April 24, the Los Angeles to Pasadena Metro Blue (Gold) Line Construction Authority voted unanimously to adopt the Locally Preferred Alternative consisting of: