This was just brought to my attention and I can't stress it enough. When you get to Vegas, please don't go waving $40 in the air and hopes of getting a ride from the airport to the strip. Hey, there's winners and sharks. It's a Vegas here and I hope you're doing well and I understand a lot of people are heading back to Vegas. The COVID restrictions are lifting. The spring break time, people have their fancy vaccines and their vaccination cards filled out. So now it's probably about a good time is ever to get back to paradise. But with traveling back in style, there's also something else that's coming back into style and it's shortages. First it was toilet paper, then it was and still is graphics cards and computer parts, and now it's lifts and movers in Las Vegas. Well actually there's an Uber and lift shortage nationwide but there's no other place in America where the pinchest felt quite as hard as Vegas. Tourists arriving at the airport heading to the airport or even trying to leave their hotel to get the various distractions are experiencing 20, 30, 60 and even 120 minute weights just to find an Uber lift and that's assuming that they can find one in the first place. And this is all during normal business hours. This actually gets exacerbated on weekends and during the night. So that begs the question, what in space is going on in Vegas right now where you can't even find a ride from the airport to the morosh? So listen guys, this is a multi-factor problem. Let's go ahead and break down a few of them. Bacter number one is there just aren't as many drivers out there right now. According to an article published by the Las Vegas Review Journal, there were approximately 13,723 active drivers by the end of March. This is just over a third of the drivers last year, which numbered over 36,000. And needless to say, with fewer drivers, we're automatically looking at longer weight times. Another factor to consider is increased visitor traffic in Las Vegas. Las Vegas may not be up to normal operating capacity. There's definitely increased visitor capacity. Remember on March 15th, Governor Syslac actually reduced the COVID restrictions and loosened the death grip on a lot of businesses, meaning that restaurants, bars and show venues have been enabling freest their population up to 50%. And with those loser restrictions, we're also seeing a lot more bars, lounges, and nightclubs open back up, meaning that Vegas is appealing to the casual crowd a little more than it had been in the last year. In fact, if we take into consideration half of the numbers that Vegas had in 2019, there's nearly a five to one ratio of visitors and Uber drivers on any given day. Consider this. In March of 2019, there were over 3,697,000 visitors in Vegas, according to the LBCBA. Back to half capacity, assuming those guidelines were followed, that means roughly 1,848,000 visitors came to Vegas this March. And splitting them evenly in the 31 days in March means on average, Las Vegas had 59,629 tourists who boots on the ground every day, believing you with 4.3 Uber drivers to everyone's poorest in Vegas. But since you can't have a point through even person, we just rounded it up to 5. And finally, some additional speculation blames multi-app being as of reason that we're seeing fewer drivers. Some drivers don't just drive for Uber and Lyft, they'll drive for both. And that's just rideshare services. GoPuff, Instacart, GrubHub, and UberEeds are just a few of the apps that steal away attention from Uber and Lyft drivers when prices surge. Which, well, makes sense. You're in a business to make a profit using your own car and your own gas, so you'll want to make sure you're getting the most money for your time. And with all these factors in play, the shortage of Uber and Lyft drivers has created some additional bizarre side effects. Mostly some uninsured, unlicensed and straight-up, creepy side effects that are rolling up to people on the strip and at the airport. There are some anecdotal evidence as well as reports from the Las Vegas Review Journal that describe a few impatient tourists running around and waving money in the air requesting rides from total strangers. Which is dangerous and a standard common sense no-no. On the heels of that development, other people have been showing up in non-descript unmarked black or white vans just at the airport offering people rides. And not to paint a bad picture of these guys, but you couldn't be any more stuff if you painted free candy on the side of those vans. They're like, come on really. Okay, we know the who, what, where, when, and why. So let's get into the solutions portion of the video. How can you avoid this pitfall from ruining your Las Vegas vacation this spring? Well, first things first, you want to plan a ride if you can. If you know that you're going to be somewhere at a certain time, let's lay the airport heading to plan a Hollywood, you can actually arrange a ride in advance up to 30 days in advance with Uber specifically. So there's one tool to leverage for your dinner dates, show transportation, and of course, getting back and forth to the airport. A second idea is to change one your trip is. The Uber and Las Georgia just are much worse during the weekends, so planning a trip during the week is actually a great way to avoid the denser crowds. There also may be a reduced number of drivers, but the ratio is likely much better. Tip number three is to try an ultimate mode of transportation. While it's not ideal, there are other ways to get back and forth in Vegas right now. The classic Vegas taxi is making quite the comeback as right-chair services are stretching to the limit. They skew a little more expensive than Uber and Lyft traditionally are, but with recent regulations, the flat rate transportation from the strip to the airport is actually a lot more affordable. Another option you consider if you have the extra green for it that is, is a town car or limo service. There's certainly the most expensive option on the cheaper side you're looking at 45-b allers each way to and from the airport. And that's if you're not renting the car limo by the hour, but it's a much classier alternative to a taxi, and they're usually a little more flexible. And of course, you always have public transportation. I suspect this will be the least popular option with current events and all, but if you're confident in your social distancing, hand sanitizing, and mass scoring skills, it might not be a bad pit fourth way to avoid the ride share weights is to be your own ride share, bring your own car, or number two, you can rent a car. Now, you're going to run into another problem renting cars. They're very expensive right now, with some reports saying that renting a car in any destination will be upwards of five to $700 a week. There's a lot of low inventory in a lot of these places and there's high demand, especially in places like Vegas. So be prepared to pay a little more for that. Now, the downside to all of those options is you're going to have to pay for gas. You're probably going to have to pay parking fees and more importantly, you're not going to be able to indulge in all the Vegas goodness. That means alcohol and if you're for 20 friendly, that sort of plan at 13 action there, if you know what I mean. So you're definitely going to have to enjoy in a lot more moderation so you can safely drive the Vegas streets. But that's about all I got for you guys. Hopefully these tips will make it a little easier for you guys to get around Vegas until things get a little more normalized. All right, spinners and sharks, that's it for today's video. If you enjoyed today's tutorial and found it informative, I'd appreciate it a like and consider subscribing if you haven't already. I also hope that you guys can join us for the hashtag Vegas Podcast Sunday night at 6 o'clock Vegas time as we go deeper into the Uber, staff and car shortages that are plaguing Vegas and how that may affect your vacation. Until next time though, this is Ace of Vegas, signing out, wishing you all strong hands and of course, happy spinning you guys.