So, I love the monorail. It was my childhood dream to drive those trains. And I did. That being said, I don't think a monorail expansion would be what people dream it to be.
One can throw the money argument around for expanding the monorail... and while very true (it would cost more than DAK itself to build a monorail from TTC to DAK), the real reason is logistics.
A monorail is a fixed guideway based system. With a fixed guideway system comes many limitations. The first and foremost being that they are not flexible. Now, while that might be okay in a city environment, where you have a hub-and-spoke layout, and traffic is dispursed. But at Disney, a flexible and dynamic system is needed. Like it or not, only buses can provide that needed flexibility. Disney property is just not laid out to handle a fixed guideway system. You'd have to transfer (possibly more than once) to get where you need to go, and even then, there would be multiple stops. Ultimately, it would be a hassle, and take much longer. Where's the magic in that?
So... let's take a look at a few common misconceptions.
Monorails hold more people than buses.
Well, per unit, perhaps. However, when you take a look at the operation at say, the Magic Kingdom... during a park exit, you have one Express train coming into the station every 4 minutes. That train can hold about 250-300 people, depending on who is working the station, and the number of bulky strollers (True, the "crush" capacity is 360, but you will never get that many people on board).
The bus depot however, has 18 bus stops. Buses move very quickly in and out of that depot during the park exit. On average, you'll have a bus coming in every 30 seconds during an exit. So, during that same 4 minute period, you'll have 8 buses. Each bus can handle 70 guests (the low-floors can handle up to 90, but like the monorail, you'll never get that many). So together, the buses will handle almost double what the monorail can handle. Plus, they can always add more buses. In fact, when the monorail reaches capacity, it's the buses that end up helping them out. (You can only add so many trains before it actually starts to hinder performance.)
The cost of the monorail will eventually pay for itself
(Before I get into this... let's not forget that transportation is a non-revenue generating part of Walt Disney World)
As mentioned above, the initial cost of building or expanding a monorail system is astronomical. I believe Vegas (which runs essentially a newer version of the Disney trains) ran into $88m per mile, $17m per 4-car train, plus station costs. I can also tell you maintenance costs for those trains is also quite expensive. And something tells me the electric costs are not cheap either. (I will say, it's a shame they don't have onboard batteries... they could really reduce energy consumption by harnessing the energy created by the dynamic braking system, similar to how a hybrid car works)
On the flip side, you could purchase 90 buses for the cost of one six car monorail train. The roads are already in place. Maintenance is fairly simple in comparison. And today's buses get decent mileage compared to buses just 10-15 years ago, further reducing thier operating costs. Buses also have a very long life span... The oldest one currently in daily service is nearly 30 years old, and has probably close to 2.5-3 million miles on her odometer.
Monorails are so convenient!
As mentioned above, monorails are fixed into where they go. No changing that. So you basically have two options when designing a route for it to travel. Multiple lines with multiple switch points... or a single line with many stops.
Here's a hint about the average Disney guest. They want to get from Point A to Point B, directly and non-stop. No transfers. In fact, because the average guest does not come from a public transit type area, the concept of transfers baffles many people. Going from MK to Epcot requires a transfer. To us, it sounds easy as pie. But people do not like it. When given the choice of a transfer, or a few extra stops, people generally prefer the few stops. There are actually people who would rather have a direct bus from GF to Epcot, rather than switch monorails at the TTC.
A bus on the other hand requires no transfers to get to the major destinations. It's direct, and for some, non-stop. In addition, the buses can go off route if need be. They can also go where they are needed. It's not always possible to predict where guests will want to go and when. A flexible system can handle these unknowns with ease.
Let's not get into if a monorail has a technical difficulty. The whole line is shut down. With buses, the only one affected is the bus with the issue. And even then, a replacement bus can be dispatched to take care of the situation.
So at any rate...
The bottom line though is that while the monorail certainly has that cool factor, it's the buses that are truly the workhorse. People come to WDW for the parks. It only makes sense to get them there as efficiently as possible, so that they may enjoy the parks.
Well now... I stopped by to give you my two cents and I ended up with $1.54's worth. Oh well.
