Gold Line

Standing in full hot sun for 20 min while the driver is stuck behind the disabled car. The bus driver must have seen at least 30 poor tourists baking in the sun just gets away while he sits in a nice air conditioned bus. Geez. It’s about 108 degree with no shade. He’s too comfortable to decide to drive around. Really?

So some people might be wondering, what is the Gold Line? It’s not called that anymore but the Strip & Downtown Express /​SDX.
Anyways, if I have to go around the strip, I prefer taking this over the Deuce when possible. It does not go to every casino like the Deuce, but that’s the point for me. I like to spend as little time as possible in the normally crowded hotbox. I am normally heading down to Cosmopolitan so it works for me.
It stops at Fashion Show/​Wynn, Bellagio/​Paris, Excalibur/​MGM, Mandalay Bay in the «core» of the strip, so it’s not the best for most tourist, but this is a better way to get to the fringes like going down to Town Square, Las Vegas Outlets, heading up to Stratosphere, Downtown or Premium Outlets. Since it doesn’t have as many strip stops as Deuce, then you’ll get to the other things a bit faster.
Just a note if you happen to be at Fashion Show and getting on the bus there, go walk to the Spring Mtn side by Neiman Marcus/​Macys and get a bus pass there and come back onto the LV Blvd side to grab this or the Deuce. Since that services residential routes, it has passes at the regular prices and not the strip/​tourist price. $ 3 2 hour passes and $ 5 all day passes.
BTW, unlike the Deuce where the driver is out in the open who you can ask questions to and there is a payment machine on board, this is not set up the same. The driver is sealed behind glass and cannot be bothered and you use the prepaid stations at the stops and be ready to board quickly. If you don’t know where you are going, there are maps on the bus route and often RTC ambassadors on the strip stops.

Now this is how the Monorail should have been done. First off, it doesn’t have stops on The Strip at casinos that are next door to each other. It keeps a reasonable distance between all of it’s stops.
Secondly, IT EXTENDS BEYOND THE STRIP. It serves the Downtown area as well as the LV Blvd. south of Mandalay Bay. It’s also the easiest public transit option to use if you would like to go to the Premium Outlets.
Thirdly…it works in the way the Monorail never did?
And finally, IT’S INFINITELY BETTER THAN THE SHIT *cough* I mean, The Deuce.
*sigh* If only all the bus routes in Vegas were this efficient.

Spacious, smooth, and cheap. Moves slowly through Strip but picks up speed once downtown. Took 40 minutes to get from Paris to Las Vegas Premium Outlets and there was lots of sights to be seen along the way. Super clean, its like a train, you hold onto your ticket so when the police or bus staff get on you present it to them. BE CAREFUL ABOUT NOT MISSING YOUR STOP. Sometimes they don’t stop exactly where they say they will and the bus is express which means your not chance to hop off could be several blocks down! I got «stranded a mile south of Mandalay Bay because I missed the stop for that! Ended up being okay as I walked up to the «Fabulous Las Vegas» sign and then to my hotel but it was an excruciating walk with certain parts NO sidealk and few cabs and buses to be seen lol.

The Las Vegas Strip has always been a nightmare for transportation as has the rest of the city of Las Vegas. The ACE Bus Rapid Transit system is a welcome addition to Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Monorail would be preffered in my opinion as it is a seperated grade from street level, but the Gold Line will do for now. It is similar to light rail in the sence it has it’s own lanes downtown with pre-​paid fares and level platform bording. The route gets a little busy at times, but other than that, it is a reletivly fast, clean, and efficent transit option.

One hour.
That is how long it took us to get from the stop in front of MGM to Fremont Street. There seems to be very little justification for this when the strip was not a parking lot and there were very few passengers trying to get on and off at every stop in between our starting point and destination.
On the bright side, the trip back only took 40 minutes. There are no words to describe my frustration with this.
So, basically you need to decide what your and your friends’ time is worth. $ 7 for 24-​hour access to the bus or $ 20 cab ride from the strip to Fremont.
OR
You can skip the downtown experience altogether.

Premiering on the Vegas strip on Sunday, Mar. 28, 2010, the ACE Gold Line is a definite welcome addition to the overly congested Deuce Line. Not only does the ACE Gold Line help with the congestion of the Deuce on The Strip, there is finally a bus that goes northbound to Fremont St. and to The Las Vegas Premium Outlets without having to change buses. Also serving Town Square and The Las Vegas Outlet Center going southbound. Prepay at one of the ticket stations as there is nowhere to pay on the ACE. A bonus of prepayment is being able to board at any of the entrance/​exit doors! Arriving about every 8 mins, watch out for ACE Gold Line boarding stations as they are different than The Deuce. The ACE Gold looks very modern and sleek with a smooth ride. This is exactly what The Strip has needed for a LONG time!

BRT comes to Las Vegas! BRT stands for bus rapid transit and is sort of a hybrid between light rail and regular bus service. It has all the benefits of light rail including prepaid boarding, level boarding, dedicated rights-​of-​ways, etc without the high costs associated with vehicles and track.
The ACE Gold Line serves the Las Vegas Convention Center, Downtown Las Vegas, and the Las Vegas Strip. The system runs on its own dedicated right-​of-​way in downtown, while on the strip it shares the road with other vehicles. Because of this, the vehicles are bound to get bogged down on Las Vegas Blvd. when the Strip becomes a proverbial parking lot.
With high frequency, relatively high speeds, and well marked, well lit stations, the ACE Gold Line is a welcomed mass transit option for Las Vegas!