By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

While Honolulu officials are pushing ahead with plans for a bus rapid transit system, Las Vegas is thinking along bigger lines — the nation's largest monorail.

When the $650 million project is complete, fully automated trains will zip through the heart of the Vegas Strip, curving along an elevated track that rises 50 feet above the ground and dimming their lights on nighttime trips so passengers can see the city flash by in all of its gaudy neon splendor.

The line will stretch up to seven miles by the time construction ends later this decade, with stops at most casinos, downtown and the convention center. Sleek, bullet-shaped trains traveling up to 50 mph will be run by computers, not drivers.

But it's not just another glitzy tourist attraction. It's meant to be a working person's line.

Like Honolulu, Las Vegas has seen its traffic worsen for years. Gridlock is not too harsh a term for what happens most weekend nights on the Strip.

Some of the plans have a Vegas-like desperation to them. One new program is a citywide game of chance: Anyone who comes to work by bus, bike or commuter van at least four times a month is eligible to enter a weekly drawing that rewards 100 people with $100 each. Dozens of local companies are participating in that campaign by recording how their employees get to work.

Too bad Honolulu doesn't have that sort of legalized gambling, eh?

In any case, some Hono-lulu residents have been asking lately why the city isn't considering this type of fixed-rail system instead of relying on what is in essence a fancy bus system to meet its future transportation needs.

At a hearing on the bus rapid transit plan earlier this month, more than one person suggested that Ho-nolulu should look at the new generation of fixed-rail systems before spending money on rapid transit with buses, which often remain tainted in the public eye as slow and old-fashioned.

"Who wouldn't rather ride a sleek, quiet monorail system?" asked downtown resident Ann Ruby. "I've seen them in other cities and they work."

In fact, officials have considered a fixed-rail alternative and rejected it for now, city transportation services director Cheryl Soon said. In 1993, the Honolulu City Council blocked then-mayor Frank Fasi's proposal for a fixed-rail system through town by one vote, saying that residents would not support a small temporary increase in the state sales tax to pay for it.

Soon said the political climate today probably is not much better to push for a monorail system that would most likely require a tax increase of some kind.

"The monorail idea was thrown out in the early stages of planning because there was a lot of division on how many people would be willing to pay for it," she said.

Mayor Jeremy Harris has said that the new bus rapid transit system won't need any new taxes or tax increases, even though its 10-year price tag has been fixed at more than $1 billion.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas is moving in another direction.

The city has contemplated a monorail for nearly 30 years. Twice, plans to build a system similar to the one now being built collapsed. The latest attempt appears to have the financing and political support it needs.

The first four miles of the rail project, expected to be finished in about two years, are being financed entirely with private money raised through tax-free bonds. The second phase, adding three more miles, will take $300 million in public money. Eight casinos, worried that traffic is beginning to hurt business, also are spending about $5 million each to build monorail station stops on their properties.

Planners are working on making the monorail enticing. Passengers may be able to ride trains by using the same key card they use for their hotel rooms, with charges showing up on their bill upon checkout.

Monorail officials are already promoting it with Vegas glitz: Last fall's groundbreaking ceremony featured an Elvis impersonator and showgirls.

"We want them to think it's like a ride at Disneyland," said Bob Broadbent, who leads the project, "not public transportation."

Mike Leidemann's Drive Time column runs Tuesdays.