Las Vegas Deuce - World's Slowest Bus
 

I used the Deuce as my main mode of transport in Las Vegas during my recent trip. Here are a few tips:

- It's the world's slowest bus, especially if you're going southbound right now between Wynn and Bellagio. On my few trips down that way, that 1.1 mile took 30-45 minutes. Yes, you can walk that a lot faster. Three main reasons:

a. Traffic was horrible. The City Center construction site blocked 2 out of the 4 lanes. It can take 20 minutes for bus to cross Flamingo Road.

b. Most of the passengers seem to have never taken a city bus in their life. And nobody carries change. Even though the bus has signs that says $3 single trip, $7 24-hr pass, and the bus stops have the same info, the driver has to repeat that info TWICE to each boarding passenger. A mid-strip stop can be 5+ minutes for 10 people to get on.

c. The drivers are in no hurry, as they don't need to meet schedules. They'll take their time to explain to you the cost of the bus TWICE, and show you how to feed the paper bills. And they'll make sure you get up to the top level safely before they start the bus.

- Because the bus is so slow, don't jam on a crowded bus. They are usually very frequent, so wait for the next one. Chances are, you will find a seat on that next bus. It makes no sense to stand on a crowded bus for 45 minutes to get from Wynn to Bellagio. If you're in a hurry, walk instead.

- The view out the front window on 2nd floor is awesome, especially at night. I took a lot of pictures, since the bus is 80% stopping anyways. But don't expect good view out the sides, because most buses are wrapped with semi-transparent advertising.

- There is actually a 72-hour pass for $15. [In addition to the $3 single ride and $7 24-hour pass.] It's not mentioned on the transit authority's website, or on most buses. I only learned it when ONE of the bus driver announced it.

- I am very familiar with the buses they use, the Enviro 500, as they're the same model used by KMB in Hong Kong. It has a straight staircase to get to the 2nd floor easily. But unlike in HK, the Deuce also has a 2nd staircase for getting down. Pretty good.

- The Deuce passes are also good for other city buses. I actually use the 109A between the airport and the South Strip Terminal where I switched to the Deuce. Or one can ride the 108 from airport to Downtown, or 109A from airport to Stratosphere and DT. For my 48-hour trip, I only paid for two Deuce passes for $14. No taxi, no shuttle, no extra travel expenses.

I was just there between the holidays and yes it was exactly as rkkwan describes. What was most noticeable to me was that there were soooooooooo many tourists from India.

I did actually like the buses, as they are new and nice right now.

They must have raised the fares. It was $2 and $5 when I was there.

Oh, yeah... Just to make it clear, I love the bus a lot. I think I rode it 4 times during my first 24 hours; and again 4 times during my 2nd 24 hours.

And it moves fairly quickly outside the mid-strip stretch between the Bellagio and the Wynn.

I wonder if they're slower than the buses along Oxford Street in London during rush hour and Christmas Shopping season?

Here's another observation:

- The buses have screen showing the upcoming stops, but they're next to useless even when they're working. They can have time lag (when traffic isn't bad), stops can change or consolidate due to construction. And one time, a northbound bus is showing it's going to South Strip Terminal with all the stops showing in reverse!

Luckily, the drivers are usually very good at reporting stops when the automatic system isn't working properly. And all will take the time to tell you when to get off.

While I hear there's an express Duece between the strip and downtown, I have yet to find it. Anyway, I got on the Duece at the Venetian and it 45 minutes to get downtown.

Pictures have been posted from my LV trip:
rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p426123475/

This is what the bus looks like:
rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p426123475/e3dd34893

The upper deck:
rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p426123475/e2870f7ab

And starting from this photo, a little journey down from the Wynn to Bellagio from the front row on the upper deck at night:
rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p426123475/e275d2885

Are they going to change the name of the bus now that the fare has gone up a buck?

How on earth can Vegas find enough tourists to fill all those hotel rooms?

I miss the pirates show at TI.

It's a draw of luck. Yes, they all have long stops. If you get on an almost empty bus following a crowded one, your trip will be much faster.

Once it took me 55 minutes to get from Tropicana to Flamingo :))

mrwunfl - Hahaha... I'm pretty sure the &quot;Deuce&quot; means it has two decks. :D Or, to me, it means two staircases. See, I've ridden double-decker buses since a baby in Hong Kong, so that's nothing, but the buses there have only one staircase. Two stairs - that's <b>fascinating</b>!

[I used to be a bus freak when living in Hong Kong. I can tell the differences of all the models and sub-models, even individual buses.]

yk - They can't fill the rooms. Trump, which is 5* and just off the Strip, is offering rooms for $88 now; and in another thread, the Wynn for $109. I walked around all the casinos, and only the older/smaller ones are crowded. And at all the big hotels, usually only 2-3 people working at check-in, and I don't see any lines for registration. These are hotels with 3,000 to 5,000 rooms.

A friend talked me into taking the Deuce from Bally's to Fashion Show Mall in October--two words. NEVER AGAIN. We were packed in like sardines and yet they'd jam more people in at ever stop; finally I got claustrophobic and hopped off before our final stop.

My 75 year old mother could walk the route faster than the bus takes--I'm done with the Deuce!

Tess - That's why I wrote all the notes in the first post. It is slow, so only use it if you have time. And only get on a bus that has open seats.

The pirates show was fun.

Glad we saw it with the kids before they took it down.

I guess MY point was that if I can walk faster than the bus can drive...why bother?

Loved the double deckers in Hong Kong. I remember using them to get to/from Happy Valley.

The dry air in the desert makes people retarded when dealing with money. That is why they put casinos there. That is why the visitors are stunned when boarding the Deuce in Vegas. &quot;Bus? Ride? Pay?&quot; Maybe they think it is a comp or some kind of trick slot machine. Add in the facts that people are overfed, over-caffeinated, over-stimulated, over their limits, and under-slept and it is easy to understand why people take so darn long to get on the darn bus.

I was in a hurry to get from near the Flamingo to the Wynn for a show and was walking by a stop when the bus was there. I had to seriously decide whether to take the bus or walk fast in high heat. I trusted the bus and it worked. It took 5 or 10 minutes for the bus to leave the curb, but once it did it zipped up the boulevard pretty quickly. This would have been a Fri or Sat. nite. Sometimes it is useful - as transportation.

And then you have these people asking everybody at the bus stop for change to break up their $5.

I mean, geez, they probably give away $20 in tips just today; and who knows how much to the State of NV as gambling tax. Why not just stick that $5 on the bus as a little &quot;tip&quot; for the transit company?