Airport to Strip: avoid tunnel
10:30 AM PT, Apr 16 2007
On Saturday night I rode along with a taxi driver to report a column that I
am writing for the Sunday Calendar print version of Movable Buffet. Driving a
taxi in Las Vegas is different than any other city, because of the monotony of
the trips. Almost everything involves driving around the Strip. And, on Saturday
night, the Strip is a perpetual bumper-to-bumper rush hour, added to an obstacle
course's worth of accidents, construction and closures to drive around. Anyway, the most useful tip I picked up for you in California who fly into
Vegas involves getting from the airport to the Strip via taxi. Do NOT let the
taxi driver take the tunnel: insist on the surface streets. This is actually
advice given to me by Ernest Ganem who has 17 years experience driving a cab in
Vegas. We made three trips to the airport and as we left each time we were the
only taxi who took the surface street with our passengers. On the way, Ganem
pointed out to me the stream of taxis entering the tunnel. Most probably with
passengers (like all of our passengers) who wanted to go to the Strip. "No
matter what," Ganem says, "going to the Strip through the tunnel adds about $6 to your
fare. It costs at least $20 through the tunnel. From the airport to the center
of the Strip like Mirage and Caesars should be about $14-15, south end of the
Strip like Mandalay Bay, Excalibur and Luxor about $12, and north Strip like
Riviera and Circus Circus can run you $15-16. Traffic in rush hour, especially
on Friday, can put it up a $1-2. But if they (taxis) go through the tunnel no matter
what they (the customers) are ripped off."
(photo by Sarah Gerke)
(photo by Sarah Gerke)
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I've taken taxis many times from airport to strip, and never has a cab gone through the tunnel. Seems like they all know to take side streets.
Posted by: Matt | April 17, 2007 at 07:55 AM
I had this happen before in November. We arrived at McCaren at 10pm on a Thursday night. We were heading to the Venetian and I told the cab driver to take Koval to get to the hotel so we could enter through the back entrance to the hotel. (A very short ride.) The cab driver then decided to go through the tunnel and onto the 15.
I was going to raise a fit in the cab, but considering traffic was minimal on the 15, we made it to the hotel in about the same time as Koval. However, the cab fee was a staggering 22 dollars compared to usual 12 bucks. We didn't bother tipping the driver and hopefully he learned that not all college age kids are oblivious to the way they can scam money out of their pockets.
Posted by: Kevin | April 17, 2007 at 10:34 AM
Richard,
I did a package on this practice a few years back (it's called "long-hauling), replete with a first-person sidebar.
It's here:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Feb-22-Sun-2004/news/23183279.html
— Kalil
Posted by: Mike Kalil | April 17, 2007 at 11:16 AM
Hi Mike, Thanks for the link. Things haven't changed much. I highly recommend the link Mike gives above to his detailed look in the Review-Journal at long-hauling and "tunneling" by cabs in Vegas from a few years ago. It reads like it could have been written last week. Yrs., Richard Abowitz
Posted by: Richard Abowitz | April 17, 2007 at 11:26 AM
Another common taxi scam is 'confusing' Harrah's and Paris, and then correcting the mistake with a jaunt to the other property.
Posted by: Phil | April 18, 2007 at 01:27 PM
I guess taking a taxi in Vegas is a gamble on wheather you will get the high taxi trip or the low taxi trip.
Posted by: Goebel | April 19, 2007 at 04:43 PM
Taking a taxi in Vegas is just another gamble. Do I get the high priced taxi or the lower priced taxi.
Posted by: Goebel | April 19, 2007 at 04:46 PM
I have been driving taxis in Las Vegas for many years. It may 'usually' cost less to go on side streets, about 90% of the time it will be faster on the freeway. I also travel a lot out of Las Vegas - when I do travel, I do not like to sit at lights, I want to get to my hotel in the 'fastest' possible way, not always the 'cheapest' ... to me paying $5 or so more for saving 10-25 minutes is very worth it. I always give my passengers a choice.
Posted by: Jay | July 02, 2007 at 11:18 PM
Truth is Clark County ( who operates Mccarran) and the State of Nevada (who regulates Taxi Service) condone the practice. The RJ article is one funny example of a PR stunt Taxicab Authority did 3.5 years ago to make the public think they actually try to stop them darn Cabbies theives who are tunneling. Truth is neither entity does anything on a daily basis to halt the Scam and thus encourage it.
Tunneling is accepted illegal behavior because everybody makes money from the practice. The Airport gets their Cabs, The TA doesn't see complaints for lack of cabs, the Cab Owners get thousands of extra dollars everyday from the practice as do Cabbies. Although a strong case can be made Cabbies do not benefit because tips are usually lower from cheating people so the entire exercise of tunneling is a wash at best benefitting, it at all, the cabbie the least.
This is Scam I would estimate costs Tourists over $8 miilion dollars a year. The authorities do nothing beyond encourage the practice.
The answer involves using a Flat Rate System for all trips out of the Airport no matter what route is taken. Unfortunately this will benefit riders at the expense of Cab Owners so don't expect any action in that direction.
Posted by: UC | August 30, 2007 at 01:06 PM
lik
Posted by: rocky | September 04, 2007 at 01:27 AM