The second richest person in the world, Elon Musk, has opened his first ‘loop’ more than 12km below the streets of Las Vegas through his Boring Company.
When Musk first thought of the idea, it was grandiose. Cars were descending on elevator platforms the size of a single parking space and zooming along tracks inside a massive network of subterranean tunnels. Transportation pods, big enough to hold 16 people, traveling at speeds of up to 150 miles an hour. A ride from downtown Los Angeles to Los Angeles International Airport in eight minutes, all for US$1.
The reality is somewhat more sedate with the Vegas Loop. Firstly to use the Vegas Loop you need to be attending an event at the Las Vegas Convention Centre (LVCC) as it goes nowhere else. However, the LVCC has a new 1.4-million-square-foot exhibition and convention building.
The 6.4km Vegas Loop has three passenger stations (two above ground, one below), connected by stretches of 3.7km-wide tunnels, all lit with color-changing LED lights. Inside the Loop, a fleet of 62 Teslas circles around, picking up and dropping off passengers and turning a 25-minute walk across the mammoth convention centre into a two-minute ride in an all-electric vehicle.
It sounds like an extravagant taxi service but it may be Musk, who has a net wealth of US$166 billion (A$215 billion), who may be footing the bill. Under its US$48.6 million (A$63 million) contract with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Boring Co has to pay up to US$300,000 (A$388,000) each time it falls short of transporting 3,960 passengers per hour for 13 hours during major conventions — with a maximum penalty of US$4.5 million (A$5.82 billion).
At least Mr Musk can afford the bill.
