La Boring company Elon Musk is redoubling his commitment to Las Vegas, with a proposal that he would expand his underground transportation system to 65 miles of tunnels under the streets of Sin City.
El proposed network map, recently submitted to the city of Las Vegas and previously unreported, shows dozens of tunnels cutting through the city to reach more casinos, shopping areas, the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus and, of course, first time, even to residential areas. The proposed transportation system consists of 69 stations and 65 miles of tunnels, according to planning documents, plus an unknown number of Tesla vehicles.
If successful, a Loop station would be located within a few blocks of almost anywhere in downtown Las Vegas. Five stations would serve the University of Nevada, and Allegiant Stadium, home of the NFL Raiders team, would have additional connections west of the city. Harry Reid International Airport would have several stations around it, although none would serve the passenger terminal.
The system also envisions a new tunnel parallel to the Strip with few stations on it, possibly allowing for a high-speed "express" route between the north and south of the city. A similar artery connects east and west Las Vegas.
The proposed system is ambitious in almost every way.
Today, the whole loop It has about 70 Teslas that provide service in five stations separated by about three kilometers. Its construction took nearly three years and was largely financed by a $52,5 million contract with the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). A sixth station is expected to open this summer. A Boring Company document states that construction could begin this summer and be complete by February 2024, though it is unclear if this refers to the entire system.
The Boring Company (TBC) now faces significant financial and logistical challenges in transforming the Loop from a small campus commuter system to a self-sufficient, city-wide public transportation network.
Turn Las Vegas into a 15-minute city
The first potential challenge of this ambitious plan will be to expand the system from Clark County, where the LVCC and many Strip casinos are located, north to the city of Las Vegas. Las Vegas has its own regulations and permitting process that TBC will have to negotiate, and there are signs that this is not going smoothly.
On March 8, a city engineer denied TBC initial structural engineering review of the proposed tunnels. TBC proposed a tunnel design that would allow buildings to be safely built over them, though only up to a maximum of six stories. The engineer wrote that this was "NOT acceptable" to the city, which plans further development in the area.
The engineer noted that TBC's designs mix imperial and metric units, and reference foreign design standards and building codes. “Unfortunately, we do not use the EU/Swiss design codes/manuals,” the engineer wrote in a letter to TBC. “For someone who has performed over 133.000 different types of reviews, it is impossible to simultaneously meet all referenced [standards], many of which are from other countries… It would be prudent practice [to use] codes, standards, referenced codes, and design aids that have been used/developed in the US.”
At one point, the engineer notes, TBC claims that there is no US design code for tunnels. "But surprisingly a few paragraphs down and on the same page, reference is made to an American 'code' for tunnels. Needless to say, please correct the statement in question," he continued. The engineer was also concerned that TBC's tunnels run close to the foundation of the iconic Strat Tower, and the potential for lithium-ion batteries to catch fire within the system.
Building deeper or stronger tunnels to accommodate Las Vegas concerns would add expense to the project. Construction costs are unknown, although TBC CEO Steve Davis told Las Vegas last year that the stations would cost "between $1,5 million and $20 million, depending on the distance to the tunnel and the opulence [of the ] substation”. Ground-level stations are the cheapest to build, and it appears that many of the new stops on the expanded network will be located there.
The city of Las Vegas has not commented, other than to note that construction on the Loop has not yet begun there.
It is important to point out that the Loop will not receive public funds neither for its construction nor for its exploitation. This is almost unheard of in public transportation, where most systems in the United States and around the world depend on at least some public assistance. Instead, the Loop system will pay the City and Clark County a small portion of its ridership revenue, which will increase as ridership increases. TBC raised $675 million in a Series C round last year.
How many cyclists?
User figures for the Loop system to date are unclear. Last June, Las Vegas Councilmember Olivia Diaz told a City Council meeting that the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop system had received more than 700.000 users since it opened a year earlier. However, data extracted by TechCrunch from detailed user reports, obtained from the LVCC pursuant to a public records request, indicates that the system had carried only 487.700 passengers between its opening date and mid-July 2022.
The Boring Company announced a few weeks ago that it had transported its millionth passenger. Only a small minority of those trips - between the Resorts World casino and the LVCC - have been cash, with passengers paying $1,50 per trip. The rest, on LVCC's own campus, were covered by payments that LVCC makes to TBC, which include both a fixed monthly payment and variable rates based on the number of vehicles TBC operates.
Figures for 2021, obtained through a public records request, show that the price paid per passenger ride at the Convention Center varied considerably depending on how busy the LVCC was. In November 2021, during the popular SEMA auto show, the median payout per passenger was just $2,67. In a quieter month of September, the median cost of a 0,8-mile trip was $23,72.
When fully operational, TBC claims that the Loop could serve 57.000 passengers per hour, with sample fares of between $6 and $12 per trip.. However, franchise agreements with Clark County and Las Vegas give TBC freedom to set whatever rates it decides.
The water worries and there are still no taxis without a driver
TBC is now headquartered outside of Austin, Texas, where the company has built a factory to develop new drills and is building test tunnels. Last year it applied for permission to dump up to 142.500 gallons of treated wastewater directly into the Colorado River. Locals appear to be against it, having lodged almost 200 protests ahead of a public meeting tonight.
"Let's not let a public resource become a private dumping ground for a global elite to increase their profit margin," wrote one resident. It appears that TBC has already been notified of two wastewater violations.
Whatever technology is being developed in Austin, it probably has nothing to do with self-driving vehicles. There is no mention in the new planning documents of the autonomous vehicles that Musk originally touted for his Loop system.
The human drivers of Tesla Model X and Y vehicles in the Loop are a critical part of the safety and evacuation plans that Clark County approved for the initial LVCC Loop system. Part of their job is to help passengers along the roadways and into the exit shafts in the event of an underground emergency.
While it will inevitably come at additional cost to TBC, it could reassure passengers uneasy about ongoing investigations into Tesla's Autopilot technologies, as well as give drivers time to tell passengers all about their "great leader."
