Brightline West Rail Project Unveils Higher Than Anticipated Estimate Ticket Prices

A new $2.5 billion bond offering for the Brightline West high-speed rail project between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga was unveiled on Monday, revealing that initial one-way ticket prices are estimated to be far higher than expected at between $119-$133.

While the early years of the Brightline West project featured many delays, including COVID-19 stoppages, the state taking back a $600 million allocation bond, union issues, and final regulatory approval of the route, the project eventually started to move from planning to construction phases in 2023. Final approvals came that year, along with the Department of transportation awarding a $3 billion grant to the project. The route was also finalized, with stations in Rancho Cucamonga, Hesperia, Victor Valley, and Las Vegas being announced. Linkups to other cities, including Los Angeles and Phoenix, were mentioned as well. In April 2024, then-U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and other lawmakers officially broke ground on the project, with the intention of the line opening in time for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

“Our high-speed rail future is underway,” said Buttigieg on X last year. “I look forward to celebrating today’s groundbreaking for Brightline West in Las Vegas. We’re supporting this pivotal project with billions of dollars from President Biden’s infrastructure law. I’m convinced that the first time Americans actually experience American high-speed rail on U.S. soil, there’s going to be no going back and people are going to expect and demand it all across the country.”

Despite many positives of the project being promoted, such as cutting down on traffic on the highly congested I-15 and lower pollution, important details remained guarded, including the cost of train tickets, what the parking situation would be outside stations, and other concerns. However, in documents submitted for a $2.5 billion bond offering on Monday, Brightline West finally revealed the estimated opening ticket prices. The prices were expected to be on the cheaper side, mirroring Brightline’s $79 fare between Miami and Orlando in Florida. According to the filing, it will actually be much more, costing $119 for standard class and $133 for premium class one-way tickets. Before taxes, a bare bones, no parking included, round-trip ticket will cost a minimum of $238.

The price reveal, while less than some earlier estimates of being around $400 for a round-trip ticket, was met with general negativity on Monday and Tuesday. The high cost of a rail ticket was called out for being more expensive than driving and flying options, and in many cases, even slower than the “high-speed rail” system. Others noted that it will also be more expensive than the current $86 estimate for a ticket between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the under construction California High Speed Rail system, although that cost is expected to climb further as the project continues to get more and more expensive.

More expensive that driving, flying

“Yeah, this is a complete joke,” transportation consultant Travis Geary told the Globe Tuesday. “Let’s break it down using the most common route here, Los Angeles to Las Vegas. For a car, it is a four hour drive, usually with only one gas stop in between at Barstow, Baker, or if you have good gas mileage, Primm. That’s $50 to $60 for gas, both ways, let’s be conservative and say $130. You do hit traffic going back on the I-15, but if you leave early enough, you should be fine. Plus parking is usually free at the casinos if you’re staying there. That’s cheap.

“Then let’s look at flying. LAX to Reid. That’s a flight time of a little over an hour, but let’s add two for getting through checking and security. And then some more time for leaving Reid or LAX back home another hour. Roundtrip non-stop flights can be as cheap as $43, but more on average, it’s $77. Let’s be fair here and add in all those taxes. It’s about the same as driving.

“Finally Brightline West. $238 cheapest ticket and we don’t know if that is with or without taxes just yet. But then you have to worry about getting around once you reach Rancho or Las Vegas. If you want to get to L.A., you need either an expensive cab, or take the Metrolink which is only $16 roundtrip to Union Station, but also adds in a lot more time. Add in all those waits and that two and a half hours of high speed rail start to match the time commitment of driving and air travel. It’s still quicker than a bus, which takes seven hours. But a Greyhound only costs a little over $100 roundtrip too, with the added bonus of not dumping you off in Rancho.

“For Brightline West to really be a viable option, they need to get direct service into L.A. and they need to slash that price to make it more competitive to driving and flight alternatives. As it stands, it is one of the better options for Inland Empire residents wanting to go to Vegas and vice versa, but driving is still far cheaper. Same with a bus from there. And remember, people like having the ease of a car to travel around a city, go out to see things out of town, and things like that. So we’re talking a specific type of customer too, one who won’t be leaving the strip or is in town only for business, from the Inland Empire. Talk about niche.

“It is good that we’re investing in rail once again, but this isn’t the way you do it. And let’s not forget that Brightline’s Florida high speed rail system has been hemorrhaging money. In the first three quarters of 2024, the Florida Brightline lost nearly $500 million. That does not bode well for it’s sister system out west.”