LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Las Vegas Monorail is about to hit another milestone.
According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, this month will mark the 20th anniversary of the monorail "in the form that we know it."
The system first ran as the MGM-Bally's system from 1995 to 2002 and had two monorail trains that were previously used at Walt Disney World in Florida. In 2002, the system closed. The trains were replaced with the current trains, nine Bombardier Innovia 200 trains, which were built specifically for the Las Vegas monorail system.
The track was also extended before it reopened on July 15, 2004.
The monorail has gone through two bankruptcies. The first was in 2010 after the Las Vegas Monorail Company failed to pay back $650 million in state-backed bonds, which were issued to build a 3.9-mile track. The second was in September 2020, after the pandemic forced the company to suspend operations.
"It is in the Las Vegas Monorail Company’s best interest to file for bankruptcy and effectuate a sale of the system assets to a party who intends to keep the system in operation and help ensure that the mobility benefits the Monorail provides continue during conventions, events and throughout the year,” the monorail's then-President and Chief Executive Officer Curtis Myles told Channel 13.
That's when the LVCVA stepped in to purchase the monorail for $24 million.
At the time, LVCVA CEO and President Steve Hill told Channel 13 he believed the organization could run the system more efficiently because they have access to lower interest loans.
"Nearly a third of our convention attendees ride that monorail," said Hill. "Our customers, trade show organizers, have reached out to us asking us to please make sure the monorail remains a transportation option for their customers and our customers in Las Vegas."
Since 2004, the LVCVA says the monorail has carried over 103 million riders.
"During the Grand Prix race in 2023, we had our highest system ridership and our system carried its 100 millionth rider in November 2023. We also had out highest system revenue day in October of 2023 for the SEMA convention," LVCVA Chief Financial Officer Ed Finger said. "The system being clean has resulted in the reduction of 41 million vehicle miles that would have otherwise been in the resort corridor. By our estimates, [that equates to] about 600 tons of greenhouse gases."
So what does the future look like?
According to Finger, the monorail should still be operable for years to come.
"What we've learned is we can maintain and run the system longer than what we told you. We think we can deep into the next decade and beyond that, I think there is opportunity in the structural integrity of the system, for it to exist in its current vehicular form or in future vehicular forms," Finger said.
Mayor Carolyn Goodman asked if there are plans to expand the monorail and Finger said there is not.
"The $650 million system, bonded like it was, had giant depreciation numbers and giant interest numbers on the bond deal, which led to the first bankruptcy," Finger explained. "A system that is more than $100 million to build doesn't get expanded and doesn't exist without public transportation support. There aren't public transportation systems that run in America without public subsidization and the system couldn't be expanded without it."
However, Finger said other ways the monorail could pay for future expansion.
"We think there are developing opportunities that are privately funded that are probably the destinations that are ideal, as it relates to how to get alternate transportation systems put up here," Finger said.
In April, social media rumors circulated claiming that the monorail would be closing. However, Hill said those rumors are not true.
He did tell Channel 13 that once the monorail stops working like it should, the LVCVA would look at how to repurpose it and that the elevated tracks might someday be used for cars or even be tied into the Boring COmpany's system.
WATCH: Las Vegas officials address rumors about monorail closing
