Roundtrip Train Ride from Rancho Cucamonga to Vegas – Would You Pay $400?
Posted on: March 8, 2024, 04:06h.
Last updated on: March 11, 2024, 11:42h.
Commuting back and forth from Southern California by high-speed rail won’t only take longer than flying, it was revealed this week. It will also cost more.
The bad news came directly from Brightline founder Wes Edens, who told the L.A. Times that his company “will eventually charge more than $400 for a round trip from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga.”
Brightline West will cover the 218 miles at speeds of up to 200 mph, mostly along the Interstate 15 right-of-way. Light rail connections will carry passengers the 37 additional miles east from LA.
That will make the trip 2 hours and 10 minutes each way. Figuring in an hour for light rail, that’s more than twice as long as an average flight from L.A. to Las Vegas, at a roundtrip price of $75 more than flying.
Brightline estimates that 50 million people travel the route per year, 85% of them in cars.
“They’ll have to drive past our train station (in traffic) and then watch the trains whiz by them at 220 mph,” Edens, a private equity billionaire, told the Times. “It’ll be phenomenal.”
Ground is scheduled to be broken this spring, with an eye toward opening in time for the 2028 Olympics in L.A.
Off the Rails
That’s if Brightline West even gets going. The Biden administration has poured $3 billion taxpayer dollars into the project, along with access to $3.5 billion in tax-exempt bonds. However, nearly half of its $12 billion budget is still unaccounted for.
And now, the project faces swift and fierce pushback to the ticket price revelation.
“Who in their right mind would pay that amount when flying or driving, in most cases, costs much less?” Apple Valley resident Dana Bingham wrote in a letter to the L.A. Times editor. “Yes, the train seems to be more relaxing than flying and easier than driving. But a one-way fare of $80 seems to make much more sense. If the company doesn’t think it can make money at that price, it should just stop now and give any federal money for the project back so it can be used for something else.”
Numerous high-speed rail projects have failed in the U.S., where driving is cheaper and population centers are farther apart than in Europe, where they are commonplace and profitable.
In fact, talk of a Vegas to L.A. bullet train traces back to 2005, when Tony Marnell II, founder of the Rio, could not get his proposed XpressWest system to Victorville, Calif. out of the station.
A Brightline rail line in Florida has failed to meet ridership projections since its 2018 launch. According to a public bond filing, it logged an operating loss of $190 million during the first nine months of 2023. And a Brightline train from L.A. to San Francisco has tripled its original budget to $100 billion, and experienced significant construction delays since breaking ground in 2015.
“I wish them well,” Robert Poole, director of transportation policy for the Reason Foundation, told the Times. “I hope the plan works. But I’m skeptical.”
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Last Comments ( 49 )
If this the best that Briteline can do, stop now. No one in their right mind will pay this price. 100 dollars for round trip for the 218 mi. This is already public funded. Sounds like you want to be given money then pocket the profits.
Rancho Cucamonga is too far to drive from LA harbor area. I would be interested if train station was close by and didn't cost so much!
Sorry, what a joke! $400 for a round trip ticket, pass! 3 billion of our tax dollars given to the project without much in the way of progress seen, as I stated, what a joke!
Not a chance. Burbank to Vegas by air is pretty slick and it usually costs about half that amount. Taking the train from Cucamonga means I would have to drive more than an hour (nearly 2 with traffic), and then I would have to catch the train. $150 round trip and that feels like the right number.
Ok, lets break this down its 200.00 each way. No stops, straight shot. We've went and been stuck where normally 4 hrs get home from Vegas took 10+ hrs. So if take train, no worries bout accidents stops for gas. Pee breaks, food etc. Oh and if you own an electric car you gotta stop and sit for couple hours to charge car to get to your destination. So yeah all the pro's and con's ,, Con's win the $400.00 round trip cost sounds reasonable to me !!
I paid $250 for the Acela train one way from NYC to Baltimore Maryland 24 years ago for a business trip. The train was much nicer than a first class cabin on a commercial airline. I think people will be lining up to take the train for $400 if they make the cars as nice as the Amtrak Acela.
Just takes one time for one person to get stupid on the train and BAM airport security for the rails. Don't get me wrong.. I support security no doubt. Im talking beyond just normal screening. Must take in the extra time you will need there too.
Try driving home from las Vegas Thanksgiving weekend i would take train and pay the $400
Hell no!!! California's most moronic project in the last century; bar none!!!
That's a hard pass.
No way!! That is nuts to think someone would pay that, maybe if they were def, dumb and blind…probably not even then
If the price of the ticket was $75-$100 one way I would pay for it. $400 round-trip it’s still cheaper to fly and cheaper if you drive. no way what I pay $400 for Round way train ticket.
I guess I'll be driving no thanks
Train won’t be for everyone But of course will have a bunch of public After all not everyone ?? flies first class I don’t mind paying 400$ for a round trip
Morango Indian casino cost you 1/3 in gas rest of the 400 can pay for a room and buffet