With a 35 mph speed limit on the strip, Loop will even beat uncongested cars on the surface by a likely factor of two and will beat the LV Monorail by a factor of four.
Loop's speed advantage continues beyond the trip speed and will offer lower door-to-door travel times. Reduced walk times to and from stations, low/no wait times, and elimination of mode and seat transfers. Loop door-to-door journey times will be significantly less than transit and even faster than cars.
Owing to the large fleet of vehicles wait times for Loop will be measured in seconds, instead of minutes typical for rail. At CES 2023 the average wait time was
less than 10 seconds. Off peak wait times will likely be zero.
Loop's single mode, single seat service within its catchement eliminates transfers and extra wait times for the connection. This eliminates a major pain point common for riders of regular transit.
In order to maintain decent speeds, modern subways typically have a interval of 1.25 mile or more between stations. Average US Subway station intervals range from 0.5 to 2.4 miles with speeds between 14 and 35 mph.
Vegas Loop with offline stations has no real restriction on station density and can provide travel speeds of 57 mph regardless. Vegas Loop can have significantly higher station density with no adverse effect on speeds. (This is a really underappreciated aspect of Loop.)
Vegas Loop with 36 stations along a 3.2 mile stretch of The Strip from Tropicana Ave. to Sahara Ave. is impractically close (500 ft) for rail. Subway station density is fundamentally limited due to cost and performance constraints, which incentivizes reduced coverage and decreased utility contributing to lower system attractiveness.
Numerous Loop stations with their small surface footprint, flexible placement, low noise and tiny cost can be built AT destinations, not merely near them. Loop plans (Caesars/Encore) show stations efficiently integrated with existing porte-cocheres, providing literal door to door service. This will result in massively reduced walk times if any between the station and the destination.
Loop's Speed has several benefits:
- faster service can increase market share
- faster service can command a better price
- productivity is increased by providing more passenger miles per hour
- faster vehicles means fewer vehicles for the same level of service
The fact that Loop as a public transit system can beat cars in door-to-door travel times is game changing. I don't know if 57 mph will qualify as
folding space, but for vistitors to Vegas, especially those who have experienced congestion on The Strip, Loop is going to be eye-opening.
