Here's an article from Las Vegas Advisor on the new Las Vegas transportation system secheduled to go into operation in about 4 years:

Private Public Transportation

After four years of planning, feasibility studies and financial projections, and meeting with more than two dozen different regulatory agencies, town boards, planning commissions, finance committees, underwriters, and vocal opponents, the group that wants to build the Las Vegas Monorail has cleared its final hurdle.

The Nevada Board of Finance has approved the largest issuance of construction bonds in state history to pay for an elevated public-transportation system in Las Vegas-the long awaited Strip monorail. The monorail will be 3.8 miles long, stretching from the MGM Grand, using the existing monorail (which was built to public-transportation specs), then continuing north from Bally's with stops at the Flamingo, Imperial Palace/Harrah's, the Las Vegas Convention Center/Las Vegas Hilton, and the Sahara.

The fixed-guideway, electric-powered, automated monorail will be elevated 18 feet off the ground, with a line running in each direction and an emergency walkway in between. It will have the capacity to handle 3,200 passengers per hour each way under normal circumstances, and a special-event capacity (to the Las Vegas Convention Center, for example) of 5,000 passengers per hour.

The monorail is projected to attract 54,000 riders per day, or 19 million riders per year, at a fare-box fee of $2.50 per one-way ride-more expensive than comparable public transportation in other cities, but only a dollar more than the Las Vegas alternatives (CAT and the Strip trolley), and far less expensive than a cab ride. By replacing a projected 4.4 million automobile trips every year, the monorail will eliminate approximately 135 tons of carbon-monoxide emissions and 11 tons of particulates annually, which should measurably help clear the Las Vegas Valley air.

The estimated cost of the monorail project has ballooned over the years from $350 million to $650 million. Who pays for it all? The financing model is particularly interesting. The monorail is being built by a private corporation, which has already invested $18.5 million (for the feasibility studies and other preliminary work). The casinos have kicked in another $30 million, for a total private-sector investment of $48.5 million. The other $611.5 million was raised by a hours of being issued (evidence that the market has given the project a huge vote of confidence).

No federal, state, or local tax money will be used to build or operate the monorail, now or ever. Neither state nor local agencies will ever be liable for shortfalls if rider projections are too high and ticket revenues don't meet expenses. Only the fares collected from paying passengers, along with display advertising at the stations and in the cars, can be used to pay for operating, maintenance, and administration.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held in mid-November, though construction isn't scheduled to begin until May 2001. Construction will take approximately 40 months. The Las Vegas Monorail is expected to be ready for riders in January 2004.

And in a late-breaking development, the Las Vegas Regional Transportation Commission is already studying a three-mile extension from Sahara Avenue to Fremont Street and a spur line to the Clark County Government Center west of downtown. The city line, estimated to cost roughly $100 million per mile, would be publicly funded: 80% by federal transportation taxes and 20% in local tax money.