My wife and I just came home from a trip that ended with 2-3 days in Las Vegas. We stayed at the Sahara, which is on the Monorail. Seeing the traffic on the Strip/Las Vegas Blvd., we chose to see the other casinos, go to dinner, etc. by Monorail. The fare is NOT cheap, although there's a significantly reduced fare for Nevada residents. We paid $47.50 for two 2-day unlimited passes, and it would have been a bit more if we insisted on paper tickets! 
The Monorail is significantly faster than driving, but of limited use. It goes no farther north than the Sahara and no farther south than the MGM. In other words, it won't take you to the old downtown nor to the airport. It has a longish stretch without a station where it runs behind the Wynn property. It's great for accessing the properties on the east side of the Boulevard, but as it runs behind those properties, anything on the west side of the Boulevard requires a longish walk.
The big problem was that the Sahara seemingly can’t keep its elevators working. The parking garage had an out-of-service elevator, as did a rooftop pool (which was therefore closed), and two in the tower where we had our room. But those all just meant longer waits for the working elevators and going to another pool. The pain in the ass was the busted sole elevator to the Monorail station. As best as I could determine, the Monorail is responsible for the elevators inside fare control, but the property hosting a station provides the elevator to get to the entrance level outside fare control.
The Sahara's Monorail elevator wasn’t roped-off as busted when we bought our passes. I have a phobia of down escalators, and the Sahara Monorail station entrance is at least three stories up. We ended up catching the Monorail at Sahara but returning by getting off at the previous station and walking. At least the walking route from Westgate to Sahara was good, with a full sidewalk and pedestrian crossing lights. I saw a fair number of people on the Monorail in wheelchairs and on mobility scooters, and I hope they weren’t trying to get to the Sahara!
On that point, a dishonorable mention to the Monorail itself for not posting a notice in its stations that the Sahara station had a busted elevator for at least two days. Real rail transit systems post on their websites, and/or on a whiteboard in each station, a list of stations with inoperable elevators so riders can plan accordingly.
All in all, I'd still take the Monorail if/when I go back to Las Vegas, but it's par for the course (expensive and seemingly gee-whiz and fancy but worn in spots) of Las Vegas itself.
The Monorail is significantly faster than driving, but of limited use. It goes no farther north than the Sahara and no farther south than the MGM. In other words, it won't take you to the old downtown nor to the airport. It has a longish stretch without a station where it runs behind the Wynn property. It's great for accessing the properties on the east side of the Boulevard, but as it runs behind those properties, anything on the west side of the Boulevard requires a longish walk.
The big problem was that the Sahara seemingly can’t keep its elevators working. The parking garage had an out-of-service elevator, as did a rooftop pool (which was therefore closed), and two in the tower where we had our room. But those all just meant longer waits for the working elevators and going to another pool. The pain in the ass was the busted sole elevator to the Monorail station. As best as I could determine, the Monorail is responsible for the elevators inside fare control, but the property hosting a station provides the elevator to get to the entrance level outside fare control.
The Sahara's Monorail elevator wasn’t roped-off as busted when we bought our passes. I have a phobia of down escalators, and the Sahara Monorail station entrance is at least three stories up. We ended up catching the Monorail at Sahara but returning by getting off at the previous station and walking. At least the walking route from Westgate to Sahara was good, with a full sidewalk and pedestrian crossing lights. I saw a fair number of people on the Monorail in wheelchairs and on mobility scooters, and I hope they weren’t trying to get to the Sahara!
On that point, a dishonorable mention to the Monorail itself for not posting a notice in its stations that the Sahara station had a busted elevator for at least two days. Real rail transit systems post on their websites, and/or on a whiteboard in each station, a list of stations with inoperable elevators so riders can plan accordingly.
All in all, I'd still take the Monorail if/when I go back to Las Vegas, but it's par for the course (expensive and seemingly gee-whiz and fancy but worn in spots) of Las Vegas itself.
