Personal Opinion for Vehicle Passes
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 1:35 pm
BMorg is falling for the Global Warming Agenda by Gov? Less member automobiles coming to the playa while busses and semi-truck services transporting shipping containers to the playa? $40 "Vehical Pass" with $7 "Service Fee"?
Many things even I can change to make something like this work:
-If you BMorg must do this moving forward, make every auto/RV/truck etc. pay during ingress, and cut this non-gov required fee in half from $40 to $20.
-Now that we pay this extra charge, we should and will expect vast improvement in ingress, exodus and traffic efficiency. This is coming from a electronic musician, not a traffic engineer.
-This vehicle pass thing is NOT how to incentivize carpooling/ridesharing/public transit. I am sure the Black Rock City express busses do not let passengers carry extra cargo. People forced to travel ultra-light who don't like it or have no experience will not enjoy the event and depending on individual circumstances could be life-threatening.
That being said. I don't like to focus and complain only on the problem, so I offer a few possible creative & awesome solutions for Burning Man 2015.
People are writing Burning Man 2015 be the Year Of The Train, I write for that too. How it could work is to arrange with Union Pacific RailRoad Corporation to rent a few miles of intermodal flatcars (for truck trailers) along with needed freight locomotive power. People can drive any vehicle onto a flatcar upto 45 feet in length, 8 feet wide, and 13 feet 6 inches high. People than board passenger cars rented from Amtrak. Creative Touches can even be made in temporary form to the Union Pacific Engines with UPRR permission. BMorg buys or has fabricated temporary drive-off platforms near Black Rock City where the UP rail line is nearest. Drive-off platforms can accommodate 40 flatcars meaning 40 people can drive-off at once. This makes entire train drive-on and drive-off times faster than one at a time. People are instructed to make a hard forward turn onto or off the flatcars with a forklift and tow-truck on hand to help any mishaps. Vehicles drive-off without touching any paved roads leading to the event like they do now. Initially to keep individual costs and cost-of-implementation down the train trip only make trips between Reno & Black Rock City. Carson City or another town with an interstate (This whole vehicle pass is about wear and tear on roads right?) could also be the origination point to reduce costs and ease implementation.
If the costs of implementing a vehicle train shuttle are too high when calculated for individual burner costs, a dirt road parelling Nevada Highway 447 needs to be built all the way to Gate Road. Vehicle Passes were implemented to reduce vehicles causing wear and tear on the roads if I am correct? From I-80 to BRC vehicles destined for the Burning Man Playa do not touch pavement on their own parrellel dirt road! The dirt road could even supplement the paved road with the dirt road contra-flowed for ingress/egress. Contra-flowing means a two-lane road is made so both lanes go one direction for situations like evacuation, events etc.
This is if BMorg will not revert this eco-slave thinking next year, because the vehicle passes were a clusterf*ck. Vehicle passes create FUD for first-time burners like me. The vehicle pass as it is now is like acquiring a ticket, consuming more time and energy for the burner in addition to other preperation for the burn.
Vehicle Passes go against three ethos of Burning Man. Radical self expression is reduced in a bus. Most importantly, Radical Self-reliance. Vehicle Passes also create FUD, especially for First-timer burners like myself.
If Burner Express is what I am imagining, an express bus ticket includes two suitcase bags (the max-size airline checked-bag or GREYHOUND size limit), an in-the-bus bag and yourself. Just basic food/supplies would take up one bag, not including water. Bare survival for water is One gallon per-person per day. And yes, I know camp artica sells frozen water. everything else (playaware, clothes, gifts, art, camping gear, equipment, etc.) would have to be crammed into the other bag without an inch to breathe. This is just the basics, this doesn't include luxuries like a playabike, sleeping bag, shade structure, pillows, and things to thrive.
So unless a Burner Express rider has friends/connections able to bring in extra stuff to BRC, that Burner Express rider will be under-equipped and ill-prepared for a week on the inhospitable playa. This lends to a less than satisfactory experience, injury, dehydration and/or dependence on other burners for whatever.
Vehicle passes create FUD. Along with a ticket, a burner with a vehicle also needs to secure a pass in-advance. This effectively doubles the effort for travel-by-car burners. If this Vehicle Pass has to stay, slash the price in half to $20 and sell the passes at the gate. Selling passes only at the gate during ingress is simpler for BMorg to work and eliminates shipping, scalpers, fullfillment, and most importantly FUD.
A word about Gate Road leading into Black Rock City. Why does it take hours to go twelve miles, besides the sheer volume of vehicles? Why can't vehicles occupy more than four lanes for Gate Road? Here is an idea for 2015, vehicles are queued just outside Gate Road in a parking-lot type area then signalled to proceed one by one to BRC entrance. This is like pulsing except vehicles pulse the 12 miles from Gate Road entrance to BRC at once, making ingress/egress easier, less stressful & simpler for all.
Many things even I can change to make something like this work:
-If you BMorg must do this moving forward, make every auto/RV/truck etc. pay during ingress, and cut this non-gov required fee in half from $40 to $20.
-Now that we pay this extra charge, we should and will expect vast improvement in ingress, exodus and traffic efficiency. This is coming from a electronic musician, not a traffic engineer.
-This vehicle pass thing is NOT how to incentivize carpooling/ridesharing/public transit. I am sure the Black Rock City express busses do not let passengers carry extra cargo. People forced to travel ultra-light who don't like it or have no experience will not enjoy the event and depending on individual circumstances could be life-threatening.
That being said. I don't like to focus and complain only on the problem, so I offer a few possible creative & awesome solutions for Burning Man 2015.
People are writing Burning Man 2015 be the Year Of The Train, I write for that too. How it could work is to arrange with Union Pacific RailRoad Corporation to rent a few miles of intermodal flatcars (for truck trailers) along with needed freight locomotive power. People can drive any vehicle onto a flatcar upto 45 feet in length, 8 feet wide, and 13 feet 6 inches high. People than board passenger cars rented from Amtrak. Creative Touches can even be made in temporary form to the Union Pacific Engines with UPRR permission. BMorg buys or has fabricated temporary drive-off platforms near Black Rock City where the UP rail line is nearest. Drive-off platforms can accommodate 40 flatcars meaning 40 people can drive-off at once. This makes entire train drive-on and drive-off times faster than one at a time. People are instructed to make a hard forward turn onto or off the flatcars with a forklift and tow-truck on hand to help any mishaps. Vehicles drive-off without touching any paved roads leading to the event like they do now. Initially to keep individual costs and cost-of-implementation down the train trip only make trips between Reno & Black Rock City. Carson City or another town with an interstate (This whole vehicle pass is about wear and tear on roads right?) could also be the origination point to reduce costs and ease implementation.
If the costs of implementing a vehicle train shuttle are too high when calculated for individual burner costs, a dirt road parelling Nevada Highway 447 needs to be built all the way to Gate Road. Vehicle Passes were implemented to reduce vehicles causing wear and tear on the roads if I am correct? From I-80 to BRC vehicles destined for the Burning Man Playa do not touch pavement on their own parrellel dirt road! The dirt road could even supplement the paved road with the dirt road contra-flowed for ingress/egress. Contra-flowing means a two-lane road is made so both lanes go one direction for situations like evacuation, events etc.
This is if BMorg will not revert this eco-slave thinking next year, because the vehicle passes were a clusterf*ck. Vehicle passes create FUD for first-time burners like me. The vehicle pass as it is now is like acquiring a ticket, consuming more time and energy for the burner in addition to other preperation for the burn.
Vehicle Passes go against three ethos of Burning Man. Radical self expression is reduced in a bus. Most importantly, Radical Self-reliance. Vehicle Passes also create FUD, especially for First-timer burners like myself.
If Burner Express is what I am imagining, an express bus ticket includes two suitcase bags (the max-size airline checked-bag or GREYHOUND size limit), an in-the-bus bag and yourself. Just basic food/supplies would take up one bag, not including water. Bare survival for water is One gallon per-person per day. And yes, I know camp artica sells frozen water. everything else (playaware, clothes, gifts, art, camping gear, equipment, etc.) would have to be crammed into the other bag without an inch to breathe. This is just the basics, this doesn't include luxuries like a playabike, sleeping bag, shade structure, pillows, and things to thrive.
So unless a Burner Express rider has friends/connections able to bring in extra stuff to BRC, that Burner Express rider will be under-equipped and ill-prepared for a week on the inhospitable playa. This lends to a less than satisfactory experience, injury, dehydration and/or dependence on other burners for whatever.
Vehicle passes create FUD. Along with a ticket, a burner with a vehicle also needs to secure a pass in-advance. This effectively doubles the effort for travel-by-car burners. If this Vehicle Pass has to stay, slash the price in half to $20 and sell the passes at the gate. Selling passes only at the gate during ingress is simpler for BMorg to work and eliminates shipping, scalpers, fullfillment, and most importantly FUD.
A word about Gate Road leading into Black Rock City. Why does it take hours to go twelve miles, besides the sheer volume of vehicles? Why can't vehicles occupy more than four lanes for Gate Road? Here is an idea for 2015, vehicles are queued just outside Gate Road in a parking-lot type area then signalled to proceed one by one to BRC entrance. This is like pulsing except vehicles pulse the 12 miles from Gate Road entrance to BRC at once, making ingress/egress easier, less stressful & simpler for all.
