The Las Vegas Monorail is to public transportation what Milli Vanilli is to music and Ron Artest is to sports. A big, sad joke. The long-touted, never-delivering monorail finally reopened on Christmas Eve after a four-month shutdown.

What prompted the shutdown? Oh, nothing much. Just metal parts falling from the moving tram not once, not twice but three times. That’s no big deal on The Strip, one of the most densely populated streets in America right?

Even still the monorail’s mechanical blunders are not its biggest flaw. No, that’s the ridiculous $3 one-way fare/$10 day pass prices. Who’s this public transportation for? Donald Trump?

It’s a little train that goes from end of the casino line to the other end. The only places you can get to on this monorail are places you can spend money. And they’re charging you for that privilege? This is one of the worst bits of public planning in recent memory. The casinos should be paying every bit of cost for this monorail. The ride should be free. In fact, the way metal’s been falling, maybe they should be paying people to take the risk.

Like places like Casears and Paris aren’t printing enough money? Give me a break. Tourists have complained about the monorail prices in the local Las Vegas papers. If they cannot afford it, you think the average Vegas worker can? This is your public transportation?

For anyone who’s ever lived in a city where public transportation is actually depended on (New York, Philadelphia, etc…) Las Vegas is coming across like a bumbling fool.

Fix the monorail. Make it work. Make it free.

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