Blog Boring Company Opens Vegas Loop

The Boring Company’s people-moving “Loop” be beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center started carrying passengers this week.

The $52.5 million tunnel is filled with Tesla vehicles that carry passengers around the 1.7-mile stretch.

The construction took about 18 months and was finished about two months ago. The system is ten-times faster than walking around the convention center.

“We’re grateful to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and all local stakeholders for providing us the opportunity to construct our first commercial project in one of the world’s most dynamic destinations,” Boring Co. President Steve Davis said in a statement reported by The Los Angeles Business Journal. “We are proud to have developed and delivered an exciting transportation solution to the Las Vegas Convention Center.”

The Loop currently consists of three passenger stations.  Passengers can travel the entire route in about two minutes at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. The company ultimately plans to use a fleet of 62 Tesla vehicles that can carry up to 4,400 people per hour.

 

[mongo]

So the Q1 2024 opening of these extensions was missed??

Off by a month...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1778947866821796000

 

[dhanson865]

Off by a month...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1778947866821796000

That's just begging to be an Urban set on a Stargate episode/movie one of these days. Very minor CGI to make it look like future earth or a city on another planet.

Heck even non stargate SF franchises could make use of that with minor variations on a theme.

 

[ThomasD]

Is the digging up and running again after being stopped for the Monorail Pilon damage?

 

[mongo]

Is the digging up and running again after being stopped for the Monorail Pilon damage?

Given the events happened in June and October last year, yes.
Not that there was actual damage to the pilons. June (which was the result of surface work, not tunneling) had a one day stoppage and they added some concrete to the excavated area.

 

[DarkandStormy]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

Five years ago, the LVCC approved its contract with the Boring Company for the Convention Center Loop.

"A pedestrian tunnel shall be constructed between the Platinum Lot and the east lobby of South Hall as shown in Figure 1."

There is no pedestrian tunnel.

"Three system underground stations for passenger loading and unloading"

2 out of 3 stations are at grade.

System will be ADA compliant

It's not.

"Tesla Autonomous Electric Vehicles (AEVs) and/or larger high capacity AEVs will carry passengers, up to 11,000 passengers per hour"

Another nope.

Loop stations can be partially or entirely covered to return the surface to its former use after construction

Well, two of three are at grade, so...that'll be difficult.

"Standard 5-seat Avs can be augmented with high-occupancy, 16 passenger AEVs to meet user demand"

Hmmm.

AEVs are also generally faster than conventional subway cars (up to 150 mph vs. up to 65 mph)

Oops.

Original contract was for $48.6m. Las Vegas ended up paying more and got less than what was in the bid. Incredible.

 

[Electroman]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

Five years ago, the LVCC approved its contract with the Boring Company for the Convention Center Loop.



There is no pedestrian tunnel.



2 out of 3 stations are at grade.



It's not.



Another nope.



Well, two of three are at grade, so...that'll be difficult.



Hmmm.



Oops.

Original contract was for $48.6m. Las Vegas ended up paying more and got less than what was in the bid. Incredible.

Good points.

Never understood the allure of Boring tunnels and how it will solve any congestion problem, beyond the fact that it is just a tunnel.

 

[UkNorthampton]

Good points.

Never understood the allure of Boring tunnels and how it will solve any congestion problem, beyond the fact that it is just a tunnel.

Perhaps watch the presentations?

Three dimensions, avoiding surface impediments (money, planning, closures), cheap to build & maintain (weathering/potholes - my local roads are like an obstacle course).

If a route gets too busy, build another tunnel while barely impacting current ones.

 

[Electroman]

Perhaps watch the presentations?

I did. Makes no sense.

 

[UkNorthampton]

I did. Makes no sense.

Boring companies are expected by many to be cheaper than roads to build.

Maintenance is far less.

Surface less affected, you don't have diversions, temporary lights, chaos for months on end.

Need some more capacity - add a new tunnel. Can't do that with roads unless you buy land, destroy buildings, cause chaos & spend a fortune. Only elevated roadways are possible if you can't get even more land.

The future? Much of the current traffic will be underground, the surface can be reclaimed in a similar way to how the Netherlands have done things. Instead or stroads taking up huge land area, we get human-centric surfaces.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Y’all realize Boring is a startup with an idea that no one else has attempted? And that they are still developing their core technology (faster boring machines) while also attempting to prove out a new kind of transport system?

Also bear in mind that these kind of infrastructure projects can easily take 20 years to build.

So bashing Boring at this stage is like bashing SpaceX when their second Falcon 1 blew up. Ha ha. That kid Elon and his PayPal millions is just wasting his money.

If you have (a few) genuine questions, please ask, but take your “Elon’s a dope” snarks to another thread please.

 

[Knightshade]

I suppose I'd ask why they're still stuck with manual driving, at 35mph max, years after we heard they were working on approvals for much higher speeds and using AP/FSD--- in a state where autonomous driving is already legal on public roads no less--- and in a city that otherwise seems to be happy to throw increasingly more $ into the system having approved a ton of expansion.

Why they're still stuck with 4/5 seat cars is simply that Tesla hasn't gotten around to making any others and they're not gonna buy from anyone else- which is bad for system volume but at least doesn't really need more explaination.


I'd also add that by 7 years after founding, SpaceX had already had 2 successful Falcon 1 launches, and by year 8 successful launches of Falcon 9 and Dragon.

Boring, which SEEMS to be doing a simpler, less capex intensive, job than inexpensive reusable orbital launches, is just about 7.5 years since founding at this point and has nothing in production other than a couple miles of tunnels in/around the convention center and a couple nearby hotels in one city.... every other announced project appears to have vanished.


FWIW- I'm not on the "the entire idea of the company is dumb" train---- I think it's a perfectly viable solution for a place like Vegas where you've got huge volumes of folks needing to move between a relatively small number of specific places all hours of the day in a (relatively) compact area.


Same reason a subway works so well in NYC, while relatively few other places have one.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Well, I do agree that Boring seems to be going slow. I suspect it’s because of Elon’s capital efficiency mindset. Remember these projects are CHEAP fixed priced contracts. They have to be cheap because this is unproven technology, but also hotels are paying for the stations, not a well nigh unlimited public purse. So they are probably going slow until they have the equivalent of their reusable Falcon 9 in production.

Most entrepreneurs spend money like a drunken sailor. We are so used to the rush to get big that we are surprised when a startup deliberately moves slowly to get all the pieces together. Yes Boring could grow much faster, but probably not while making a profit. It isn’t as if they have to move fast … they have zero competition. There’s no reason to move fast.

Finally, don’t underestimate the structural challenges they have. They are trying to speed up tunnel boring 10x. Without killing anyone. You realize that mining accidents happen often enough? Or cave ins in traditional boring projects? My home town in Ottawa had a giant sinkhole/cave in a stones throw from the Parliament building due to an underground tunnel they were attempting to build. It was a freaking disaster. High rise buildings were in danger of toppling over. Don’t underestimate the danger of tunneling in urban areas.

And because of that, underground public works projects move really really slowly. The city of Las Vegas is actually working at an amazing speed expediting the permits and approvals. It helps that it is a relatively new city with a better documented than most utility, geological, and building plans available.

Bottom line, I expect that as they perfect their Zero People In Tunnel construction method (right now, workers are in the boring machine as it digs, like all boring machines), and increase their speed, they will branch out and do more projects faster. But it’ll always go slow relative to tech startups due to the innate challenges.

 

[UkNorthampton]

Well, I do agree that Boring seems to be going slow. I suspect it’s because of Elon’s capital efficiency mindset. Remember these projects are CHEAP fixed priced contracts. They have to be cheap because this is unproven technology, but also hotels are paying for the stations, not a well nigh unlimited public purse. So they are probably going slow until they have the equivalent of their reusable Falcon 9 in production.

Most entrepreneurs spend money like a drunken sailor. We are so used to the rush to get big that we are surprised when a startup deliberately moves slowly to get all the pieces together. Yes Boring could grow much faster, but probably not while making a profit. It isn’t as if they have to move fast … they have zero competition. There’s no reason to move fast.

Finally, don’t underestimate the structural challenges they have. They are trying to speed up tunnel boring 10x. Without killing anyone. You realize that mining accidents happen often enough? Or cave ins in traditional boring projects? My home town in Ottawa had a giant sinkhole/cave in a stones throw from the Parliament building due to an underground tunnel they were attempting to build. It was a freaking disaster. High rise buildings were in danger of toppling over. Don’t underestimate the danger of tunneling in urban areas.

And because of that, underground public works projects move really really slowly. The city of Las Vegas is actually working at an amazing speed expediting the permits and approvals. It helps that it is a relatively new city with a better documented than most utility, geological, and building plans available.

Bottom line, I expect that as they perfect their Zero People In Tunnel construction method (right now, workers are in the boring machine as it digs, like all boring machines), and increase their speed, they will branch out and do more projects faster. But it’ll always go slow relative to tech startups due to the innate challenges.

Also, once Boring company have decent procedures & a decent machine design that's good enough for production - they can blitz it then, working tunnels in parallel. I suspect though that they'll be improving substantially for a long while yet and won't feel able to rapidly expand until much later.

Presumably, Elon will want Boring to have only small loans, to minimise risk and for the concept to stand on it's own merits financially.

 

[Cosmacelf]

And in reply to some shade someone else cast towards Boring about above ground stations. Above ground stations are a benefit, not a negative. Instead of having to take long escalators to an underground station, you can just walk out of your hotels main lobby and board a vehicle. That’s the nice feature of having ordinary EVs be the vehicles, they can work in a hybrid system.

 

[UkNorthampton]

And in reply to some shade someone else cast towards Boring about above ground stations. Above ground stations are a benefit, not a negative. Instead of having to take long escalators to an underground station, you can just walk out of your hotels main lobby and board a vehicle. That’s the nice feature of having ordinary EVs be the vehicles, they can work in a hybrid system.

Great point. I knew "hybrids" had some utility.

Last mile can be overground until there's enough demand or tunnelling supply to finish the route. Allows suburbs, airports etc to be integrated long before dedicated tunnels exist.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Wow, I didn’t even know they were digging this far away from the LVCC and Resort’s World. This is pretty far away.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1794140979538059702

 

[DarkandStormy]

And in reply to some shade someone else cast towards Boring about above ground stations. Above ground stations are a benefit, not a negative. Instead of having to take long escalators to an underground station, you can just walk out of your hotels main lobby and board a vehicle. That’s the nice feature of having ordinary EVs be the vehicles, they can work in a hybrid system.

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of tunneling? That space above ground could be used for something else - in fact, in the original contract, Boring said it would be.

Anyway, the Convention Center Loop isn't even considered a transit system by Las Vegas. That's how they get away with being ADA noncompliant.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of tunneling? That space above ground could be used for something else - in fact, in the original contract, Boring said it would be.

Not defeating the purpose. Same as 40% of the NY Subway being overground or 45% of the Tube being overground doesn't mean that the underground portion is pointless.

Underground stations are better for the _city_.
But whether underground stations are better for the rider or the location, would vary depending on the location.

A Loop station for a Vegas hotel would make sense under the hotel so guests can directly take an elevator to their floor, but the hotel might prefer it to be out front for security or safety reasons.

 

[dhanson865]

2 million passengers mark hit (cumulative)

 

[dhanson865]

They haven't updated the map since July 2023 but if you take the Virgin Hotel break as a sign of progress you could doctor up a simple highlighted version.

That new tunnel is the longest section in the system now. If they connect it to the airport (which seems like the goal) it will see high traffic from people going from the airport to the convention center / Westgate hotel / Encore hotel / Resorts World hotel area.

It would also be a chance to see vehicles at higher speeds as it's a much straighter and longer tunnel.