New Vegas Loop “Station” Announced and It’s Deeply Dumb

By Scott Roeben, on August 10 2026

3 min read 1 comment

There are those who consider the Vegas Loop underground transportation system to be dumb. We are not one of those people. That does not preclude us, however, from pointing out the fact that some aspects of the Vegas Loop are utterly lame. This is one of that.

A new Vegas Loop “station” at Sahara casino was announced recently. We are using quotation marks around “station” deliberately because the new station isn’t really a station, per se. It’s a kiosk where Teslas from the Vegas Loop pick people up and drop them off. There’s no tunnel. It’s just another rideshare area, but with better signage than Uber or Lyft.

It’s worth noting we are making a rare exception to our rule about mentioning Sahara (its asshat owner once sued us, we won), but only because it’s in the context of something very, very stupid.

As our fellow youths say, this Vegas Loop station is “boof.” And not in a good way.

So, there are a lot of critics of the Vegas Loop, the system where Teslas take people various places via tunnels.

From day one, we have defended the Vegas Loop because it’s a very Las Vegas thing. We have defended the project because 1) taxpayers aren’t paying for it, and 2) it has created buzz about Las Vegas. Casinos pay for their own stations, Boring Co. (the Elon Musk-backed company that’s building the Vegas Loop) foots the bill for everything else.

It’s not a “good” or meaningful transportation system, however. It’s a fun, quirky idea, though, and Las Vegas is all about those. Basically, it’s cheap P.R.

Progress on the Vegas Loop hasn’t been particularly fast, however.

There have been three legitimate stations opened at Las Vegas hotels in the last two years and nine months. That works out to a station a year.

The real stations, beyond the ones inside the Las Vegas Convention Center footprint, are at Resorts World, Westgate and Encore.

Resorts World opened in June 2022, Westgate began operating in January 2025 and Encore opened in April 2025.

The new station at Sahara simply doesn’t count. If you don’t get to the station through a Tesla tunnel, it’s not a station. It’s a rideshare stand.

We previously reported on the fake Vegas Loop station at Fontainebleau.

Fontainebleau’s faux station is sillier than the one at Sahara because there’s a real station mere feet away at the convention center. Don’t get us started.

Any touting of stations by casinos, the Boring Co. or the LVCVA (Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority) that aren’t connected to the Vegas Loop tunnel system is an attempt to hoodwink the public.

The goal is to make it look like the Vegas Loop is making more progress than it really is.

The hoopla around the Vegas Loop starting service to the Las Vegas airport was similarly misleading. Airport service started in Dec. 2025.

There are no tunnels that go to the airport. Teslas are just taking people from Resorts World and Westgate to the airport. You know, like taxis or rideshare.

The upside: Tesla rideshare is cheaper than taxis, Lyft or Uber (because the Vegas Loop is being subsidized by Elon Musk). Airport rides are just $12 plus tip. We mention this because many, many people stiff Vegas Loop drivers just as they do taxi and rideshare drivers. Related: We’re all doomed.

Why would Boring Co. make a big deal out of new stations when they aren’t real stations?

It’s because at the current rate of progress, a station a year, the remaining 101 Vegas Loop stations are expected to take 93 years, or around 2119.

That’s the math, despite the optimistic projects of Boring and the LVCVA.

As for the Sahara Vegas Loop stand, it’s on the east side of the casino you are forbidden from entering due to the aforementioned asshattery.

You will not see a giant red arrow at the new Vegas Loop station. You won’t see much of anything, really.

The alleged station operates daily from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. We hope they don’t make anyone from the Vegas Loop stand out there in the heat. At that point, this story would turn from tragicomedy to straight-up tragic.

While the Vegas Loop isn’t serious mass transit or wise urban planning or smart governance, it’s still ours, and it’s undeniably one of the most Las Vegas things ever.

Las Vegas leaders and elected officials are mesmerized by certain things, including sports and renderings and pitch decks.

We love the Vegas Loop because it’s ridiculous and whimsical. It’s not a transportation system so much as an attraction. It dresses something mundane up as spectacle, a convention center shuttle serving as a hype machine.

The Vegas Loop is based upon the premise that reality (light rail, subways) simply isn’t entertaining enough.

It doesn’t really get more Vegas than that.