LV cab drivers lament competition from monorail, guideway

Las Vegans got their first look at a proposed publicly funded elevated mass transit system Tuesday. Taxi drivers noted it and a separate monorail could deprive them of business.

Craig Harris, associate editor of Trip Sheet magazine, a publication dedicated to taxi cab industry issues, and a cab driver in Las Vegas for nearly 20 years, said many drivers aren't happy about either transportation system.

"There are a lot of gloom-and-doom types out there who say this will hurt the taxi industry," said Craig Harris, associate editor of Trip Sheet magazine, a publication dedicated to taxi cab industry issues, and a cab driver in Las Vegas for nearly 20 years.

"But others realize the reality that this is going to happen and that we have to cope with it and be as compatible with it as we can," Harris said.

Harris said cab drivers will always have one advantage over mass transit systems -- the individualized service that will allow cabs to deliver customers from door to door. Harris also said a taxi is also a private sanctuary for business people.

"Once you're inside, you can talk business," Harris said. "That's something that usually doesn't happen in a bus."

Meantime, planners Tuesday used the first of two scoping meetings to solicit comments on the fixed guideway system. But for the more than 60 people who attended the open-house-format meeting, the plan generated as many questions as answers.

Still, Regional Transportation District planners were enthused that so many people came out to get a look at the mass transportation system designed to relieve the Las Vegas Strip of congestion and move commuter traffic generated by Citizen Area Transit buses.

The proposal showed prospective routes for 18 miles of track with 25 stations and three end-of-line terminals with park-and-ride lots. Two meetings this month will give RTD comments that would be incorporated into an environmental impact statement.

The impact statement covers the entire system, but the RTD's primary focus is on the initial phase, a 5.2-mile, $380 million section with nine stations and a terminal that would run from Cashman Center to the Stardust hotel-casino.

The environmental impact statement is necessary because $160 million in federal funding is being dedicated to Phase I of the project.

Planners are carefully calling it a "fixed guideway system" -- not a monorail -- because the technology has not been selected. Two different types of monorail systems are under consideration as well as a light rail option, which experts say is the front-runner because there are more potential equipment suppliers.

Planners say the technology is scheduled to be selected in February.

The type of technology isn't the only question that has to be resolved. Another big one: How will construction be funded? Planning manager Lee Gibson said U.S. Department of Transportation grants will pay for $155 million in Phase I construction and $5 million in engineering costs. How the remaining $225 million would be raised hasn't been determined.

Officials say they haven't talked too much about the potential for sales-tax increases until the fate of a quarter-cent bid to raise revenues for water system improvements on the November ballot is resolved.

Gibson also said annual operation and maintenance costs have been estimated at $10.5 million and that up to 60 percent of that would be raised in fares. How the rest of operational expenses would be covered is still under study.

Another key question: Would the public fixed guideway system be compatible with a privately operated monorail system that is planned between the MGM Grand and the Sahara hotel-casinos?

That system, backed by the Hilton Hotels Corp., was reviewed by the Clark County Planning Commission last week and will be forwarded to the County Commission without a recommendation. When county commissioners examine the plan, they'll also consider a franchise agreement with the operators, represented by former Clark County aviation director Robert Broadbent.

The Broadbent system, which currently operates for free between the MGM Grand and Bally's, is on the RTC maps as part of its plan.

The MGM-Bally's monorail route presented last week and the RTC fixed-guideway route shown Tuesday night have three stations that overlap, at the Sahara, the Las Vegas Hilton and at the Convention Center. Where the MGM-Bally's monorail goes south, the RTC system veers west along Convention Center Drive toward the Stardust.

The monorail proposal hit a snag last week when residents of Desert Inn Estates protested how close the route was to their exclusive homes. RTC officials say they have not been contacted by any homeowners about the proximity of its line to homes. Gibson said only 7 percent of Southern Nevada's population is within the corridor under study for the fixed guideway system. That same corridor is home to 67 percent of the region's jobs.

The impact statement to be drawn for the plan is expected to address several environmental concerns, including land use, geology, water, air quality, transportation and circulation, noise, natural resources and cultural and recreational factors. It's also supposed to address socio-economic impacts of the area -- which is what drew the cab driver Harris to the meeting.

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