LETTER: Las Vegas Monorail can be a valuable asset

In contrast to your July 24 monorail editorial, I believe it would be appropriate and beneficial to the local economy for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to acquire and run the monorail system. This use of the hotel room tax revenue clearly serves the many hotel occupants who attend conventions and will help to their travel between the hotels/casinos. With the recent convention center expansion, the number of conventioneers will further increase.

In 2017, the monorail carried 4.8 million passengers, averaging 400,000 a month. Imagine the traffic congestion and soaring air pollution (not an issue with the all-electric monorail) if this facility were not available. Plus, a successful transportation network is dependent on multiple travel modes: monorail, bus, taxi, tunnel transit, etc.

The convention authority could significantly reduce costs by addressing the $1 million in salaries paid to the monorail CEO and four vice presidents. Integrating convention registrations with multiday monorail passes would expand ridership and revenue.

Let’s support the convention authority leadership’s shrewd proposal to help our unique monorail system achieve its true potential through expansions to serve the Mandalay Bay, the stadium and Sands convention facilities.