Bed & Office

Wow – for those of you who thought that transportation stopped with the monorail at the convention center, think again. We had a full house with CES, and transportation to and from the convention center was hectic, since the convention center itself was locked down into a specific traffic pattern. In other words a simple run to the convention center was taking me 30 minutes or more.

<Rant> This forced me to look up public transportation since I can’t claim blindness – I do see the buses running up and down the street. Perhaps because I’m from Los Angeles, I discount them as taking too long to get anywhere, but in this case they really are a viable “green” option. I’m saying green because although Las Vegas may be the city of sin, it operates its bus system (including the school system) on Bio-Diesel, which is a fuel which can come from many sources except the BIG OIL COMPANIES. This is a good thing. According to FUEL (Sundance Film Festival winner of the 2008 Best Documentary) LasVegas is the only city in the US to have converted an entire school bus fleet to Bio Diesel.  That explains why it’s so hard to smog an L.A. car here in Vegas. </Rant>

Back on point, the walk to the bus stop is approximately 200 yards across the golf course to the intersection of Desert Inn and Eastern.  Buses run every 1/2 hour till 1:00 am according to the scheduled route, (Citizens Area Transit Bus Route 213) and its a 10 minute trip from here. We are in between stop “I” on the route to stop “G” which is the convention center.  Fares are $1.75 each way, but you can purchase a three day pass on the Internet which includes the monorail for $15.00 .

The bus stop is minutes away, and you’ll have no parking issues or taxi lines to wait in.  For reference purposes we’re located at the end of Pueblo Way, just south of the bus stop. When determining which bus to catch follow the schedule from Pecos Road. To return from the Convention Center you’ll be taking the 213 Eastbound – see map for bus stop location at the Convention Center.

One fallacy about Vegas, is that’s it’s easier to “cab-it” than to drive. In my opinion, it’s much easier to drive than take a cab. No only are cabs expensive, but the required waiting time for a cab can exceed 1 hour. Unlike many cities, Las Vegas cabs don’t pick up passengers on the street – they only pick up at hotels, or on pre-call-in locations. The average cab fare is $20.00 due to the traffic. Worst of all passengers have to wait in line at a location that has no heat or air conditioning. For more information please visit www.BedandOffice.com

The solution is simple. Every hotel in Vegas has easy parking, and even better, most have valet services. The valet services in town are FREE, and an acceptable tip is $1.00. By the way, valet customers usually have air-conditioned/ heated waiting rooms, and depending on the hotel, it usually takes 5-10 minutes to get your car If you book your car rental in advance, you’ll find competitive rates at about $25.00 daily.

UPDATE: With competing car rental companies the rental rates are dropping fast. Most of the major car rentals are as low as $12.00 or less per day. Check out the weekly rates if you’re planning on staying close to 7 days – sometimes that daily rate is low enough to offset the cost of additional days you may not use.