Transportation along the Strip in Vegas

If you don't have a car in Vegas, getting around can be a pain if you're not up for the walk. And the part of the strip conducive to walking (Mandalay Bay to the Wynn) is up to 3 miles (5km) long - not including side trips into each resort. So having a ride is always welcome. Taxis are expensive. At one time, my ride of choice would have been the Strip Trolley. This cute little trolley shaped bus seems like a deal at 12.50 per person for 3 days. You have to suffer through stopping at the shuttle loading area at each resort, which makes the trips much longer than they need to be because of the trick of getting through the resorts' driveway mazes and then getting back into traffic. But you can get on or off at any stop. They claim to run anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes between buses. We found it was more like 30-60 minutes. If you buy passes, make sure to check them right away. We didn't and found out too late that although we had bought two 3-day passes, we only got one 3-day and one single day pass. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice, so we got to use the trolley as much as we needed. I guess we cashed in some karma credits there.

Of course, after we spent the money on the Strip Trolley bus, we discovered an even better bus system - The Deuce. These double decker buses come every 7 to 17 minutes and they stick to Las Vegas Blvd., so no detours into the hotel properties - which would save a huge amount of time. The fare is reasonable too - $2 per ride or $5 for a whole day. The day pass is good on any Vegas transit bus too, so you could get off The Deuce at the South Strip Transfer Terminal and catch a bus to the Outlet Mall. This bus will get you from downtown (where Fremont Ave is) all the way past Mandalay Bay. We'll know better next time.