Vegas Loop airport service is still a Tesla ride on streets
The Boring Company has airport stations running, but riders still take human-driven Teslas on city streets while the tunnel is unfinished.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
3 min read
The Vegas Loop airport service now includes two stations at Harry Reid International Airport, but the ride is not underground yet. Mashable reported that passengers are being driven in human-operated Teslas on surface streets for the five-mile trip to the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Urbanist YouTuber Ray Delahanty, who posts as CityNerd, tested the system in a recent video and criticized the airport setup and the lack of signs pointing riders to the stations. The Boring Company did not answer Mashable’s questions about his complaints, the outlet reported.
What is the Vegas Loop airport service?
The Loop is Elon Musk’s Boring Company transit project in Las Vegas. It opened five years ago with human-driven Teslas carrying passengers through single-lane tunnels at the convention center, rather than trains or automated people movers.
The system is now operating at 10 stations, according to Mashable: five at the convention center, two at the airport, and stops at Encore, Westgate and Fontainebleau. Tickets cost between $6 and $12.
How much has the Vegas Loop cost?
The first three-station Loop cost $47 million, according to the Boring Company. Mashable noted that other reporting has put the figure closer to $52 million.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority paid for the initial system using hotel bed tax revenue, and it also covers $5 million a year in maintenance, according to the reports cited by Mashable. Casino and airport stations are paid for by those locations, while future tunnels are funded by the Boring Company.
The Boring Company’s long-range plan calls for 68 miles of tunnels, 104 stations, autonomous vehicles, speeds up to 155 mph and capacity of 90,000 riders an hour. Mashable cited SFGate’s analysis questioning that passenger figure, while the Las Vegas Sun reported the system now carries about 1 million riders a year, or a little more than 114 people an hour.
Why are riders confused?
Delahanty’s video showed a system that can be hard to find before anyone gets into a car. Mashable reported that casinos and the airport do not provide signs directing passengers to Loop stations, and some stations lack basics such as seating or working escalators.
Passengers also have to request cars through an app, in a setup similar to Uber or Lyft. Delahanty told Mashable that some riders appeared to understand the routine, while many seemed unsure how to buy a ticket, order a ride or identify their assigned vehicle.
At Fontainebleau, Teslas leave Boring tunnels and enter the resort’s parking garage like other cars. At the airport stations, which opened in December 2025, the entire route to the convention center uses regular roads, according to Mashable.
When will the airport tunnel open?
Delahanty said his Loop driver told him the Boring Company is digging the airport tunnel and plans to open it before the end of the year. Until then, he described the airport ride as functioning like a regular rideshare that requires passengers to reach an unmarked airport concourse sublevel first.
Delahanty’s own airport-to-convention-center ride cost $12, which Mashable described as far cheaper than Uber, Lyft or a taxi. In his video, drivers appeared helpful, though Delahanty summed up the ride as an Uber or Lyft experience that sometimes uses a narrow, brightly colored tunnel.
This story draws on original reporting from Mashable.