The Las Vegas Monorail is a automated monorail mass transit system located adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It connects several large casinos in the unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester, and does not enter the city of Las Vegas proper. Built at a cost of $650 million, it was privately owned and operated by the Las Vegas Monorail Company until their 2020 bankruptcy when it was sold to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, a local government agency. In 2013, total annual ridership was roughly 4.2 million, down from a pre-Great Recession peak of 7.9 million in 2007. The monorail is a registered not-for-profit corporation, allowed under Nevada law since the monorail provides a public service. The State of Nevada assisted in bond financing, but no public money was used in construction. History 1995–2002: MGM Grand-Bally's Monorail The Las Vegas Monorail began service as the MGM Grand-Bally's Monorail in 1995. This system ran between the MGM Grand and Bally's hotels using two used Mark IV monorail trains that had operated on the Walt Disney World Monorail. Built through a partnership between the two hotels, the MGM-Bally's system's construction was contracted to VSL Corporation. The grand opening party for the monorail featured showgirls from Bally's famed show, Jubilee!, helping groups to the monorail. Characters from The Wizard of Oz greeted the groups on the MGM side. The two trains each ran back and forth on each beam, and were stored at a maintenance building near the Bally's station (this building still stands today, but it has been severed from the beam). 2002–present: Las Vegas Monorail In 2002, the original system was closed to begin its conversion to the current Las Vegas Monorail system. The beam was extended from Bally's station (now the Bally's & Paris station) north to the Sahara Hotel and Casino. The track was extended south beyond the MGM station to provide for track switching for the trains, as well as a starting point for a potential future southern extension. The original trains were replaced with nine new Bombardier Mark VI monorail trains. During testing and commissioning, the monorail suffered several malfunctions that delayed the start of passenger service for almost a year. The most serious of these problems related to parts falling from the monorail to the ground under the tracks. After many delays, the finished Las Vegas Monorail opened