LAS VEGAS -- The Las Vegas Monorail Co. and VEGAS.com announced a deal to offer a free monorail ticket for every purchase made through the tourism Web site and two affiliated sites.

The offer starts March 17 and is scheduled to last for six months.

Monorail officials said they hope the freebie will entice people to become paying riders of the 3.9-mile elevated transit system, which links several Las Vegas Strip hotel-casinos and the Las Vegas Convention Center.

"If they come to the station and try the system, I think we've got a customer," monorail chief executive Curtis Myles told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The move comes two months after the nonprofit monorail raised one-way fares to $5 from $3 to boost flagging revenue.

Customers are eligible for a free one-way monorail ticket for every booking made through the VEGAS.com, LasVegas.com or Espanol.Vegas.com Web sites, which offer information, tickets and reservations for shows, hotels, tours and other attractions.

VEGAS.com kiosks are being set up in each monorail station. Each kiosk will be manned and equipped with a computerized list of customers eligible for the freebie. Once you book an excursion on the Web site, you simply give your name at the kiosk to get the free ride.

As part of the deal, VEGAS.com will be advertising and promoting the monorail and has themed monorail cars with advertising and video screens.

Ridership on the monorail in January fell to 18,200 a day from a peak of 33,000 a day in July 2005, prompting Fitch Ratings last month to cut the rating on $451.4 million in first-tier bonds to junk status.

Fare revenue for 2005 totaled $30.2 million, just more than half of the forecast when the bonds were sold, Fitch said.