Las Vegas Finally Antes Up for a Real Public Transit Network

For all the showy excess of Las Vegas, the city's public transportation network is strikingly understated. That's especially true on that casino-laden part of Las Vegas Boulevard known as the Strip. Bits and pieces of transit do exist there—double-decker buses, a monorail connecting the SLS (formerly the Sahara) with the MGM via the convention center, a few tiny trams that link casino couplets—but they're no more related than roulette is to craps.

"There's no connectivity of one single system on the Strip," says Tom Skancke, head of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance and a board member for the Nevada Department of Transportation. For all the vehicle types on the boulevard, from taxis to limos to billboard trucks, the one thing missing is "a transit system that provides other modes for how people want to move," he says.