Looking for fun in Las Vegas at New Year's? Follow these transportation tips
Date Posted:
Sun, Dec 27 2015,
Las Vegas Review Journal
TRANSPORTATION STRATEGIES
But if you're up for the challenge, here are some transportation strategies to make the night bearable — and maybe even fun.
First, remember that the Metropolitan Police Department is going to close several streets when it gets close to party time.
— Major streets that won't be closed are your friends: Sahara Avenue, Mandalay Bay Road, Desert Inn Road, Frank Sinatra Drive, Koval Lane, Russell Road, U.S. Highway 95 and the 215 Beltway. The Beltway will stay open, but some of the ramps leading to the Strip will close.
Harmon Avenue and the bridge leading into CityCenter from the west and Harmon east of Las Vegas Boulevard will be open only to hotel guests of the properties in the area.
— The closure of Las Vegas Boulevard is an inexact exercise, but Metro has a timeline of approximately timed steps toward turning the Strip into a pedestrian mall. Weather and other factors could play a role, so don't view these times as exact.
Around 5 p.m., I-15 ramps to eastbound Tropicana Avenue, Flamingo Road and Spring Mountain Road will start closing.
Around 5:45, closures of other streets, roads and alleys leading west toward the Strip between Sahara and Mandalay Bay Road from Koval Lane will start.
At 6, the barricades blocking vehicular traffic off Las Vegas Boulevard will close, and around 6:15, Metro will start shooing vehicles off the street. That should be wrapped up around 6:30, and that's when Las Vegas Boulevard opens fully to pedestrian traffic. That's also the time when moving walkways, elevators and escalators leading to and crossing Las Vegas Boulevard will be shut off.
From there, it's party time. But remember, hundreds of Metro officers and cameras will be watching your every move.
— At midnight, it's eyes to the sky for the America's Party fireworks show scheduled to run about 15 minutes. About 12:15 a.m., the moving walkways, elevators and escalators will be turned back on.
Most of the celebrations end around 1:30 a.m., and the street sweepers move in from south to north about 2.
By 3:30 a.m., ramps will start reopening, and things will start to return to normal — or at least as normal as one could expect on the Strip.
This is all good information for those who look to drive to the Strip, and it's obvious that if you're planning to be there, you should get near your destination before 4:30 p.m. and plan on being stuck until at least 12:30 a.m.
BUS, LIMO, MONORAIL OPTIONS
If you want to avoid some of the traffic but still get to the Strip as a pedestrian, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada bus system will be operating free from 6 p.m. Thursday to 9 a.m. Friday. That means you can park at the free park-and-ride sites and take a bus to the action. They leave every 20 minutes from the South Strip Transfer Terminal at 6675 S. Gilespie St. at Sunset Road, the Centennial Hills Transit Center at 7313 Grand Montecito Parkway in northwest Las Vegas, and the Westcliff Transit Center at 25 S. Durango Drive near Summerlin Parkway.
If you want to get up and down the Strip during the run-up to the fireworks, the Las Vegas Monorail is pulling an all-nighter, running continuously from 7 a.m. Thursday through 3 a.m. Saturday. Standard rates apply.
A Los Angeles-based company, BeMyDD — for Be My Designated Driver — has about 25 professional Las Vegas limousine drivers on call to shuttle people who have had too much to drink and their cars to their homes. Rides can be requested through the BeMyDD personal driver app available free through the Apple and Google Play. The service costs up to $19.50 an hour.
The special attraction of the service this year is that $1 from every ride sold Thursday will go to moving a dog to a no-kill animal shelter in the company's first-ever Puppy Lovin' New Year's Eve campaign.
UBER, LYFT OPTIONS
One other New Year's Eve transportation twist is the first availability of ride-hailing companies in Southern Nevada. Rides can be hailed on apps offered by Uber and Lyft in Las Vegas
Both companies have reduced their rates to $1.10 a mile and 20 cents a minute after an initial charge of $2, with $5 being the minimum cost for a ride.
But beware. New Year's Eve will be busy, and for ride-hailing companies, that often means dynamic pricing — critics call it "surge pricing" — when rates can double, triple or quadruple.
Surge pricing occurs based on geographical supply and demand, so it could happen anytime, anywhere.
Lyft promised ahead of New Year's Eve that its dynamic pricing would be capped at twice the normal rate. Uber tap-danced around the question and said that New Year's Eve is likely to be busy and customers should be prepared for the potential of higher prices, but they wouldn't predict how high prices could go.
Uber is partnering with the PT's Entertainment Group, operators of PT's, Sierra Gold and Sean Patrick's locations, to donate a dollar from every pickup from one of those taverns to the Friends of the Metropolitan Police Department to fight drunken driving.
But if you're up for the challenge, here are some transportation strategies to make the night bearable — and maybe even fun.
First, remember that the Metropolitan Police Department is going to close several streets when it gets close to party time.
— Major streets that won't be closed are your friends: Sahara Avenue, Mandalay Bay Road, Desert Inn Road, Frank Sinatra Drive, Koval Lane, Russell Road, U.S. Highway 95 and the 215 Beltway. The Beltway will stay open, but some of the ramps leading to the Strip will close.
Harmon Avenue and the bridge leading into CityCenter from the west and Harmon east of Las Vegas Boulevard will be open only to hotel guests of the properties in the area.
— The closure of Las Vegas Boulevard is an inexact exercise, but Metro has a timeline of approximately timed steps toward turning the Strip into a pedestrian mall. Weather and other factors could play a role, so don't view these times as exact.
Around 5 p.m., I-15 ramps to eastbound Tropicana Avenue, Flamingo Road and Spring Mountain Road will start closing.
Around 5:45, closures of other streets, roads and alleys leading west toward the Strip between Sahara and Mandalay Bay Road from Koval Lane will start.
At 6, the barricades blocking vehicular traffic off Las Vegas Boulevard will close, and around 6:15, Metro will start shooing vehicles off the street. That should be wrapped up around 6:30, and that's when Las Vegas Boulevard opens fully to pedestrian traffic. That's also the time when moving walkways, elevators and escalators leading to and crossing Las Vegas Boulevard will be shut off.
From there, it's party time. But remember, hundreds of Metro officers and cameras will be watching your every move.
— At midnight, it's eyes to the sky for the America's Party fireworks show scheduled to run about 15 minutes. About 12:15 a.m., the moving walkways, elevators and escalators will be turned back on.
Most of the celebrations end around 1:30 a.m., and the street sweepers move in from south to north about 2.
By 3:30 a.m., ramps will start reopening, and things will start to return to normal — or at least as normal as one could expect on the Strip.
This is all good information for those who look to drive to the Strip, and it's obvious that if you're planning to be there, you should get near your destination before 4:30 p.m. and plan on being stuck until at least 12:30 a.m.
BUS, LIMO, MONORAIL OPTIONS
If you want to avoid some of the traffic but still get to the Strip as a pedestrian, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada bus system will be operating free from 6 p.m. Thursday to 9 a.m. Friday. That means you can park at the free park-and-ride sites and take a bus to the action. They leave every 20 minutes from the South Strip Transfer Terminal at 6675 S. Gilespie St. at Sunset Road, the Centennial Hills Transit Center at 7313 Grand Montecito Parkway in northwest Las Vegas, and the Westcliff Transit Center at 25 S. Durango Drive near Summerlin Parkway.
If you want to get up and down the Strip during the run-up to the fireworks, the Las Vegas Monorail is pulling an all-nighter, running continuously from 7 a.m. Thursday through 3 a.m. Saturday. Standard rates apply.
A Los Angeles-based company, BeMyDD — for Be My Designated Driver — has about 25 professional Las Vegas limousine drivers on call to shuttle people who have had too much to drink and their cars to their homes. Rides can be requested through the BeMyDD personal driver app available free through the Apple and Google Play. The service costs up to $19.50 an hour.
The special attraction of the service this year is that $1 from every ride sold Thursday will go to moving a dog to a no-kill animal shelter in the company's first-ever Puppy Lovin' New Year's Eve campaign.
UBER, LYFT OPTIONS
One other New Year's Eve transportation twist is the first availability of ride-hailing companies in Southern Nevada. Rides can be hailed on apps offered by Uber and Lyft in Las Vegas
Both companies have reduced their rates to $1.10 a mile and 20 cents a minute after an initial charge of $2, with $5 being the minimum cost for a ride.
But beware. New Year's Eve will be busy, and for ride-hailing companies, that often means dynamic pricing — critics call it "surge pricing" — when rates can double, triple or quadruple.
Surge pricing occurs based on geographical supply and demand, so it could happen anytime, anywhere.
Lyft promised ahead of New Year's Eve that its dynamic pricing would be capped at twice the normal rate. Uber tap-danced around the question and said that New Year's Eve is likely to be busy and customers should be prepared for the potential of higher prices, but they wouldn't predict how high prices could go.
Uber is partnering with the PT's Entertainment Group, operators of PT's, Sierra Gold and Sean Patrick's locations, to donate a dollar from every pickup from one of those taverns to the Friends of the Metropolitan Police Department to fight drunken driving.