Conventioneers seen as key to boosting ridership

By Richard N. Velotta / Staff Writer

The BankWest of Nevada monorail train is shown in July. Photo by Matthew Minard / Staff File Photo

Executives with the Las Vegas Monorail Co. admit they've done a poor job of selling tickets to the thousands of conventioneers who attended meetings and trade shows in the city this year.

"We really didn't go after it as well as we could have or should have," said Las Vegas Monorail President Curtis Myles. "But that's one of the things we'll be doing in 2006, putting together a concerted plan to reach conventioneers."

The company recently announced a new rate structure, charging tourists more and locals less to ride the four-mile system. The new fares will take effect days before one of the city's largest conventions comes to town.

Myles said the effort to sell more tickets to conventioneers isn't geared as much to the mega-shows such as January's International Consumer Electronics Show as it is to those attending a multitude of smaller events.

"The large numbers of delegates that attend the big citywide shows elevate our ridership without much effort," Myles said. "What we're hoping to do is focus on the smaller shows and getting tickets in the hands of people attending them because there are so many of them throughout the year. When I talk about smaller shows, I'm talking about events that are still pretty big by most cities' standards. Most places don't think of a convention with 20,000 people as small."

There were more than 22,000 meetings, conventions and trade shows in Las Vegas in 2004 drawing more than 5.4 million people to the city. Yet many people consider the impact of the industry only when they see shows like CES, MAGIC Marketplace and the National Association of Broadcasters -- events that bring in more than 100,000 people at a time.

Myles said it's difficult to determine how many conventioneers ride the monorail, since there isn't a way to differentiate them from other tourists and from locals. The company has conducted some ridership surveys in monorail stations and Myles has done some of his own comparative analysis of convention attendance with ridership statistics.

Myles said the monorail company is exploring several ways to boost conventioneer ridership and the best methods of getting tickets in the hands of show attendees.

"The idea is to appeal to a potential rider with a competitive rate," Myles said. "Today, you can buy a single ride for $3, but when someone can get it for $2 a ride, we become very competitive with other forms of transportation. There are four different ways to get tickets to the end user in a way that will allow them to achieve a discount."

Myles said the company is exploring sales directly to conventioneers, directly to hotels, directly to the convention center and through convention sales personnel.

Chris Meyer, senior director of convention sales with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said making it easier for conventioneers to get their hands on monorail tickets would help the monorail company, but the biggest breakthrough in serving the convention industry would involve extending the system.

Meyer said building a line on the west side of the Strip would produce the biggest boost for the company.

Myles concurs.

"The numbers alone make that apparent," he said. "There are about 25,000 rooms on the east side of the Strip (where the monorail already runs) and about 60,000 on the west side."

Myles said there's already anecdotal evidence that a monorail on the west side of the Strip would be huge for the system.

"Our surveys have shown us that a number of conventioneers staying at Mandalay Bay, Luxor and the Excalibur have used the tram system that connects those properties to get to Tropicana Avenue, used the bridges to walk across the street and then have walked through the MGM Grand to get to the monorail to ride to the Convention Center," Myles said.

With those properties now owned by MGM Mirage -- a major monorail booster since the system's inception -- Myles sees an opportunity some day for a westside line with a station at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

"The monorail system grew from a line linking the MGM Grand with Bally's," Myles said. "And (MGM Mirage chief executive) Terry Lanni has been absolutely fantastic to work with. The MGM Grand has done a great job with signage in the property to direct people to the monorail."

Myles said the company also has great rapport with Harrah's Entertainment boss Gary Loveman, which could lead to attaching even more hotel rooms on the west side of the Strip to the transportation system. Harrah's owns Caesars Palace, while MGM Mirage owns most of the other properties on the west side of the Strip.

In addition to getting more conventioneers on board, the monorail company is looking for more local residents to use the system.

The monorail company recently announced a new fare structure that takes effect at 8 a.m., Jan. 1 and gives locals a price break. But Myles admits that local ridership probably won't take off until the company establishes a better ticket distribution system.

Locals will be able to buy $1 one-way tickets at the Downtown Transportation Center, at the South Strip Transfer Terminal and at the Regional Transportation Commission's offices. Residents must show a local identification card, a sheriff's card or a Nevada driver's license to make a purchase and are limited to four one-way tickets a day.

Officials are considering offering monthly passes and additional ticket outlets to boost ridership.

"We recognize that these are locations that most people don't get to on a regular basis," Myles said.

But he said he hopes within a month locals will be able to buy tickets at each station. In addition, the company hopes to develop a system for the purchase of tickets online and with cell phones.

"We set up the local ticket sales this way because we could implement it immediately, but once we start selling tickets to locals at booths at the stations, we expect sales will pick up," Myles said.

Monorail officials are working to increase traffic and boost revenue on the privately funded $650 million system that opened in 2004.

The system had an average ridership of 25,788 passengers a day in November, well below the 30,000 break-even point. The system raised $2.3 million in fare-box revenue for the month.

Tourists also will be seeing new fares just before 2006 is rung in. Beginning at 7 a.m., Dec. 29, a single ride will cost $5, a two-ride fare is $9 and a 10-ride pass is $35. A 24-hour unlimited ride pass for the monorail will sell for $15.

Richard N. Velotta covers tourism for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4061 or by e-mail at velotta@lasvegassun.com.

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