Bankruptcy judge skeptical about Las Vegas Monorail plans

Las Vegas Sun ^ | 16 nov 2011 | Steve Green

[rellimpank]

The Las Vegas Monorail was developed at a cost of $650 million — but based on its meager ridership and revenue levels it’s now worth just $16 million to $20 million.

That caused a bankruptcy judge to express skepticism Monday about Las Vegas Monorail Co.’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy in which it would still be encumbered by $44.5 million in debt — more than twice its value as a company.

On top of that, Judge Bruce Markell noted, the monorail’s own financial projections show it facing a deficit of $38.4 million in 2019.

“I don’t buy it,” Markell told Monorail attorneys during a day-long hearing

[FatherofFive]

I was one of 11 employees at the free tram which runs from Excalibur to Luxor to Mandalay Bay--

Is the free tram still running?

[rellimpank]

—you weren’t on the monorail—you were on a tram, privately funded and built by casinos —

[rellimpank]

—yep—

[farmguy]

Maybe so, but it was called a monorail at the time and it looked just like the one at Disneyworld.

[Ditter]

Maybe what I rode was the free tram because we were staying at the Mandalay Bay at the time.

[achilles2000]

Yeah, where’s Willie when we need him (for comic relief)?

[Celtic Conservative]

650 million? somebody's fudging those numbers. They had to lay the rail, sure. But the cars they bought used from Disneyland.

CC

[Celtic Conservative]

650 million? somebody's fudging those numbers. They had to lay the rail, sure. But the cars they bought used from Disneyland.

CC

[Tramonto]

Typical light rail projects cost $100,000,000.00 per mile.

The monorail was a bargain.

[Tramonto]

I read the article wrong. I think this thing cost even more than a typical light rail system.

[blueunicorn6]

I’ll give you 5 to 1 odds that Las Vegas didn’t think this through.

[jimjohn]

from what I recall, the best thing they could do is run it TO the airport, with a long tern goal of running it between the airport and freemont street.

Cabbies can get the big fares and the street hails.

[FatherofFive]

—yep—

So they spend $600 million to replace a 'free' service?

I wish I was that good a salesman.

[CGalen]

Expand it to run both to the airport, and to downtown, and they will get plenty of riders.