cleaned up url: https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/vegas-loop-22280647.ph...
I rode Elon Musk's Vegas Loop, the worst transit system on Earth
11–20 of 44 posts
Re: I rode Elon Musk's Vegas Loop, the worst transit system on Earth
#12“I tried a prototype outside of its optimal use case and it was half baked.” Surprise surprise!
What is its optimal use case and how is it better than good old subway? (asking a bit naively, it's the first time I hear about it)
The Vegas Loop isn’t really “better” than a subway, it’s more like the best available option given the specific political and financial reality of Las Vegas.
Vegas has never had meaningful public transit investment, and a real subway would cost billions and take decades of political will that simply doesn’t exist here. The Loop fits the actual use case: moving convention attendees between LVCC halls and eventually casino properties, quickly, in a city where distances are deceptive and walking in 115° heat is brutal.
For that narrow purpose, point-to-point, climate-controlled, short-hop movement in a dense tourist corridor, it works reasonably well. The comparison to a subway is a bit of a category error; no subway was ever on the table. The real question is whether it beats surface-level shuttles and moving walkways, which it probably does.
The critique is fair though: it’s not scalable the way a subway is (throughput is limited by number of cars), and it’s privately owned infrastructure serving commercial interests rather than a public transit network.
Re: I rode Elon Musk's Vegas Loop, the worst transit system on Earth
#13It's interesting how Loop criticism has evolved over the years: initially, it was claimed Boring Co has no chance of duplicating or significantly improving on the speed and cost of state of the art used by tunneling companies, or that the entire concept is fundamentally impossible or cost-prohibitive to build. After building the first stations, it changed to capacity concerns or that it's not Hyperloop, an completely…
> After building the first stations, it changed to capacity concerns or that it's not Hyperloop, a completely unrelated high speed concept.
This was the original concept no? It seems like valid criticism that the original prototype is immensely inefficient and slow compared to something even remotely comparable.
> Now, after Loop demonstrated vehicle rates that would beat most light rail projects and many subway systems too
Genuinely curious where you’re getting this.
Re: I rode Elon Musk's Vegas Loop, the worst transit system on Earth
#14[dead]
Re: I rode Elon Musk's Vegas Loop, the worst transit system on Earth
#15“I tried a prototype outside of its optimal use case and it was half baked.” Surprise surprise!
What is its optimal use case and how is it better than good old subway? (asking a bit naively, it's the first time I hear about it)
Imagine if the subway car you were riding in could detach from the train, take an exit tunnel to the surface streets then drop you off within a block from your house.
AVs in tunnels allow for a wide range of density from 2-seater to high density bus/train-car like vehicles that can convoy through tunnels but still do point-to-point and on-demand.
The main challenge is convincing the train-obsessed that 3d travel is better than 1d travel.
Re: I rode Elon Musk's Vegas Loop, the worst transit system on Earth
#16It's interesting how Loop criticism has evolved over the years: initially, it was claimed Boring Co has no chance of duplicating or significantly improving on the speed and cost of state of the art used by tunneling companies, or that the entire concept is fundamentally impossible or cost-prohibitive to build. After building the first stations, it changed to capacity concerns or that it's not Hyperloop, an completely…
Since when did the Loop demonstrate it could beat subway systems?
A heavy rail subway line can transport 30,000+ people per hour compared to vegas loop which maxes out at 4500 people/hr. Plus every single Tesla in the tunnel requires a human driver, unlike trains. Even IF Elon managed to create these larger Tesla vans, they won't reach those numbers on a single route.
Re: I rode Elon Musk's Vegas Loop, the worst transit system on Earth
#17“I tried a prototype outside of its optimal use case and it was half baked.” Surprise surprise!
I read the article and I can't find this qoute
Re: I rode Elon Musk's Vegas Loop, the worst transit system on Earth
#18I never understood how running a car, even electric one, in such small tunnel was considered safe.
Re: I rode Elon Musk's Vegas Loop, the worst transit system on Earth
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is its optimal use case and how is it better than good old subway? (asking a bit naively, it's the first time I hear about it)
Imagine if the subway car you were riding in could detach from the train, take an exit tunnel to the surface streets then drop you off within a block from your house. AVs in tunnels allow for a wide range of density from 2-seater to high density bus/train-car like vehicles that can convoy through tunnels but still do point-to-point and on-demand. The main challenge is convincing the train-obsessed that 3d travel is b…
I have so many questions...
How many exit tunnels will need to exist for the final above-ground stage of the trip to be quick and not increase the total length of the route significantly?
If there are exit tunnels all over the place, how long would it take to build all of them? If there aren't, how do you avoid massive jams as the multiple lanes merge to the single exit tunnel lane?
How do all the exit tunnels connect to the surface streets in the many areas where there's no room for another lane to be built anywhere?
Re: I rode Elon Musk's Vegas Loop, the worst transit system on Earth
#20It's interesting how Loop criticism has evolved over the years: initially, it was claimed Boring Co has no chance of duplicating or significantly improving on the speed and cost of state of the art used by tunneling companies, or that the entire concept is fundamentally impossible or cost-prohibitive to build. After building the first stations, it changed to capacity concerns or that it's not Hyperloop, an completely…
You need to read the article before you give generic comments.
> it was claimed Boring Co has no chance of duplicating or significantly improving on the speed
The claim holds up. The article shows evidence that this is not faster than existing transport at all. It is in fact slower. How did you not read this??
> Now, after Loop demonstrated vehicle rates that would beat most light rail projects
They did not demonstrate this. Why put this lie out there?
> that it has minor usability quirks
Major usability problems. It is strictly worse than every existing transportation system.