The northern portion of the Loop, including proposed stops at the Stratosphere hotel and at Fremont Street, stretches into the city of Las Vegas. Ground could be broken on some of the routes next year, the LVCVA said. The individual stations and tunnels need separate land use approvals and building permits. The Clark County vote this week was on a special use permit and the franchise agreement, which lays the groundwork for the fee structure for the underground thoroughfare.
Passengers in Musk’s Loop will be driven in Tesla vehicles, which for now have drivers but could eventually be driven autonomously. Those terms had the unprofitable monorail service paying 0.5% of revenue, which totaled $22.7 million in 2019, before a pandemic-accelerated bankruptcy filing of that system last year. That’s a little better than the original 1998 franchise agreement Clark County struck with the operators of its seven-station monorail, which is now owned by the LVCVA. Boring will pay the county a franchise fee of 0.5% on the first $17.5 million of quarterly revenue and 5% on additional revenue from the Loop. Rides on the Loop will cost about $5 to $20, depending on the distance, the spokeswoman said. Those will be paid for by each hotel or casino.
The company plans to pay for the Loop, but not the individual stations, according to a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The proposal covers 51 stations at various hotels and casinos, connected by a network of twin tunnels running 14.5 miles apiece.