The Las Vegas visitors authority on Tuesday picked Elon Musk's tunnel-making startup "The Boring Company" to build an underground "people mover" as part of a massive convention center expansion.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) board of directors touted its choice as a "monumental decision that will revolutionize Southern Nevada's transportation."
The Boring Company will design, construct and operate a convention center transport system consisting of a loop of express-route tunnels capable of carrying passengers in autonomous electric vehicles at high speeds, according to LVCVA.
Travellers of the Vegas underground are advised to keep an eye out for Deathclaws, Mirelurks, Mole rats, and Feral Ghouls.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by srobert on Thursday March 14 2019, @06:29PM (2 children)
I live in Vegas. When the monorail was first coming on line here (10-15 years ago?), and county residents thought they had some say over the matter, I had a conversation with the owner of Vegas' largest taxicab company, Milton Schwartz. Milton (now deceased) was then one of Vegas' wealthiest and most influential citizens. I mentioned to him that "the Monorail would be really useful and reduce traffic jams if it were extended to the airport, otherwise it's practically useless." Milton's response was abrupt. "It's not going to the airport." I repeated that it was "really useless unless it did." He merely repeated "It's not going to the airport." He said it as if he had made a decision and was quite confident that no one else had anything else to say about it. I guess that's just how people with billions of dollars think.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday March 14 2019, @09:38PM
I'm thinking it's more along the lines that he and his fellow taxicab company owners had already talked with the political decision makers a while back, indicating that it would pretty much kill off a chunk of tourism-funded income, economy, and (their employees') jobs overnight. I'm surprised they were able to get it to the border of the airport, unless the monorail people talked to the political decision makers as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 15 2019, @01:56PM
Yep. Washington D.C. is the same way. They finally extended the orange line after 50 years of saying they were going to do it, and it STILL doesn't go to Dulles. -facepalm-
Just goes to show you the power of cronyism.