Monorails first ride a star-studded performance

During its preopening ceremonial ride on the morning of July 14, the Las Vegas Monorail took its place as another Sin City attraction.

From the platform, I heard no clang, clang, clang of a trolley or ring, ring, ring of a bell -- everything is computerized on these nine four-car trams, including the engineer, conductor, door monitor and purveyor of information.

But zing, zing, zing went my heartstrings as, at each station, entertainers from the various resorts -- even an Elvis impersonator was there -- jumped on the star car, the caboose, so to speak.

Seeing these headliners parade off at the end onto a red carpet lined with cameras made a great show for those of us who got up early to report on the occasion.

Entering the train at the MGM Grand were MGM Mirage performers from Le Femme, Sirens of TI and Cirque du Soleils Zumanity along with comedians Danny Gans and Rita Rudner.

At the Ballys/Paris-Las Vegas station, mimes from Paris and dancers from Jubilee, the hit show at Ballys, joined in.

At the Caesars/Flamingo stop, actors posing as Caesar and Cleopatra led comedian George Wallace, Gladys Knight and Miss Flamingo into the car.

Waiting at the Harrahs/Imperial Palace stop were Penn & Teller, Chippendales dancers, magician/comedian Mac King, ventriloquist Ronn Lucas, showgirls from Skin-tight plus performers from Legends in Concert and the long-running Luau at the Imperial Palace.

Las Vegas showgirls stepped on at the convention center, and the frighteningly assembled Borg from Star Trek: The Experience boarded at the Las Vegas Hilton.

At the end of the line at the Sahara, cast members from Saturday Night Fever wrapped up the celeb parade.

The $650 million transportation system itself is a moving art exhibition. Some of the trains cars are moving billboards for the likes of Vegas.com, Monster Energy Drink, Nextel and the Star Trek: The Experience show at the Las Vegas Hilton.

The monorail provides quite a ride as it cuts through Ballys, rises over a Hilton structure and curves around the old Desert Inn golf club at one point and a cluster of casinos at another. When the monorail hits the straightaway, it accelerates up to 50 mph. The entire trip, end to end, takes 14 minutes.

Traveling as it does along the backside of the various properties, the monorail takes visitors through the entertainment capitals back lot, with its service buildings, off-Strip resident and timeshare complexes, hotel pool areas, new developments in progress and, of course, parking lots.

As we passed through the empty stations on the return ride, I could see the signage that guides exiting passengers, including a route map showing all the stops.

Station entrances vary in their relation to the hotels, variously depositing passengers at the side, back or front door. One of them spans two properties.

Here are the stations and their respective locations:

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Where to get a ticket to ride

LAS VEGAS -- Tickets for the Las Vegas Monorail can be purchased at vending machines inside each station and in the properties that house stations. The touch-screen, menu-driven machines accept coins, bills and credit cards.

Help is available in the form of attendants (at least in this introductory period) and also via a courtesy phone at each machine.

Riders can choose the monorail plan that best fits their plans. Ticket prices for the trains first three months of operation will run $3 for a single roundtrip; $5.50 for two roundtrips; $20 for 10 roundtrips; $10 for an unlimited one-day pass; and $25 for an unlimited three-day pass.

The tickets are activated at first use and vary in their expiration times.

The Las Vegas Monorail currently operates from 8 a.m. to midnight daily, although additional hours are under consideration. Expanding to 20 hours of daily service becomes much more likely as planned new sections extend the monorail to downtown on the north and possibly McCarran Airport to the south.

Meanwhile, the citys existing bus service has added a route connecting the north end of the monorail with downtown Las Vegas.