EDIT: That didn’t take long – Uber shut down after less than a day!
Uber Las Vegas?
My wife and I went to Las Vegas recently and for the first time in recent history, we didn’t rent a car or have one available to us. From the airport to our hotel we took the hotel shuttle, though we had to wait over an hour for it to show up
(READ: An airport shuttle should not take an hour to show up – Best Western McCarran Inn)
We had a nice night at the Best Western McCarrann Inn, but our next 2 nights were at the Luxor on the strip. Because we had time to kill, we decided to just walk it (maybe a mile or so?). In hindsight, I might have done that differently but hey, that’s how we roll. 🙂
Friday evening we had an activity up the strip, so we took (literally) the first taxi ride I’ve ever taken in my life (can you tell I don’t travel that much?). We walked back to the hotel, but then took another taxi to the airport. Both of the rides were fine, though my airport taxi driver took me to a part of the airport that had a 60 minute wait for security – luckily for me I know how to breeze through security, even without PreCheck.
Why no Uber?
While we were preparing for our trip, I was excited to use Uber for the first time. There are lots of coupons out there that give money off for your first rides, and so I figured that would work out just nicely.
But then I found out that Uber doesn’t exist in Las Vegas? I thought how could this be – it would seem like a perfect place for it!
It’s the taxis..
I made a note to myself to write a post about there not being Uber in Las Vegas, but I shelved it for awhile. The basic idea is that, just like in several other cities that are fighting Uber, the taxi companies in Nevada have successfully fought the introduction of Uber as an “illegal taxi company”. Apparently Uber Las Vegas has finally worn them down.
From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
After months of strategizing, representatives of Uber say they will launch their controversial ride-sharing platform in Las Vegas and Reno this afternoon.
In the company’s initial rollout, Uber drivers will not pick up customers in the city’s resort corridor or at McCarran International Airport but will be able to drop off passengers at those locations.
I doubt this is over yet – again from the same article:
Regulators, meanwhile, say they will enforce the state’s transportation statutes and regulations, which means they probably will cite drivers and impound their vehicles if they’re caught transporting customers without a license.
“We’re going to enforce the law,” said Bruce Breslow, director of the state’s Department of Business and Industry, which oversees the Nevada Transportation Authority and the Nevada Taxicab Authority. “We’re not going to get into an argument over philosophies,”
Time remains to be seen how aggressive the taxi companies will get in trying to stop Uber – should be interesting. Personally I didn’t have any problems on my 2 rides to the Strip, though I have heard and read of many people being “long-hauled”, or taken longer ways to places just to run up the meter.
Have you ridden Uber in Las Vegas? (or wish you could have!) Let me know in the comments
Hat tip to Points, Miles and Martinis.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
This is very outdated now. Uber and Lyft have their own pick-up areas in the major strip hotels.
Taxi’s coming from the airport charge a three dollar fee for using a credit card. You can only use a credit card to pay for your Uber charge.