Editorial: Arena needs sole rail system plan

ANYONE who has ridden the people movers in the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C., or Chicago knows how convenient a single, coordinated rail transit system can be. Tourists can see more of those cities in a given day than they would if those systems didn't exist.

After years of traffic congestion along the Las Vegas Strip, some members of the resort industry realized the value a rail system would have here. We've seen small-scale examples, such as the link between the MGM Grand and Bally's hotel-casinos, and the connection between the Mirage and Treasure Island.

MGM Grand and Hilton have weighed in with a proposed monorail extension that would weave north from Bally's to the Las Vegas Hilton. The Regional Transportation Commission is considering a separate system that would link Cashman Field to McCarran International Airport through stops at several resorts. Mirage Resorts wants to extend a people mover to the Monte Carlo and Bellagio. Circus Circus plans to do the same for its properties at the south end of the Strip.

While all of these plans are well-meaning, the result will be one big mess if they all get built. We will have created a patchwork transit system that will confuse and irritate tourists. It's also questionable whether we will have relieved traffic congestion and the air pollution that comes with it.

That's what the Clark County Commission ought to be thinking about Tuesday when it sets a public hearing for a proposed ordinance that would establish procedures for approving monorail corridor and franchise agreements.

What the commission should really be setting its sights on is a single, coordinated rail system that serves all Strip resorts as well as the hotels downtown. Tourists will spend more time in the casinos rather than walking between them. They'll also get to sample more resorts in a shorter period of time. How's that for public relations?

All of this is easier said than done, of course. But if there's one issue where resort executives should set aside their clashing egos, it is this one. At a time when the gaming industry is under attack by foes who would like to regulate and tax casinos to the hilt, it seems rather silly for the resorts to pass up a chance to unify behind a coordinated rail transit system that would benefit both the industry and the public.

San Francisco, Chicago and the nation's capital got it right when they built their systems. Las Vegas, a city of world-class accommodations, ought to do the same.

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