Possible Solutions for Lack of Vehicle Passes

[raftin]

I run a theme camp and with our camp membership we do almost all carpooling (13 vehicles for 40 people). When we bought our tickets I estimated the number of vehicle passes we would need and designated members of camp to purchase them. Since that time we had our art car approved and added a trailered camp generator which necessitated 2 additional vehicles. We are working through solutions and were wondering if anyone had thoughts on the following ideas:

Is the open playa outside the Burning Man permitted area available for parking? We could use our vehicles passes to shuttle the art car and generator in and leave the vehicles for the 2 weeks parked north of the event.

What are the rules for parking in Gerlach on side streets? I know some cities require no more than 7 days in one spot but we could have later arriving members move the vehicles to a different block in the town.

How long can a vehicle be left on the side of the highway? This might help facilitate arriving equipment if we could leave a truck for a member for a few hours so they can transfer the trailer.

Will there be a designated transfer of gear area just outside the gates? I am guess it would be OK to do this at the pull off where the dirt road begins, if that gets clogged BMORG may want to make an area just inside the playa for such operations.

Does a vehicle have to be street legal once exiting the highway? We were considering creating a triple rig trailer with the generator at the pull off to get everything in. Our camp has people that could rig it safely.

We would appreciate any feedback in the next few days, we have another planning meeting Saturday and want to make the best decisions.

See you all on the Playa!

[Jovankat]

You could just buy two more vehicle passes in the OMG sale.

[some seeing eye]

Since the vehicle pass system is designed to reduce traffic inbound and outbound on Hwy 447, none of those will work.

[AntiM]

Pretty much nope on those ideas. Parking on the open playa? Not until you are past the closure area, and even then, you'd still have to go through the gate. Gerlach won't want you parked on a side street, even if the vehicle was moved periodically. There is no parking along 447, the shoulders are soft and narrow, and unattended vehicles would be impounded.

You should be able to find passes and purchase them. Why give yourself the headache of gaming the (new) system?

[Eric]

What AntiM said - basically, trying to park your vehicles anywhere between Reno & the playa is just asking for them to be towed or impounded - and they will be, that's guaranteed. If they let one group slide, next year there will be 10,000 people trying to bend the rules, and becoming more of a burden on the local communities (which is what your ideas basically are) is the last thing we want to do.

If you don't want to buy the extra needed vehicle passes in the OMG sale, you can make plans for some of your people to travel to & from Reno via Burner Express, thus freeing up some of your already purchased passes, and they can park the extra vehicles in a long-term lot there.

[Jovankat]

One round trip Burner Express ticket from Reno is $168. Two vehicle passes are $80 and that's only an extra cost of $2 per person in the camp.

I assume the OP didn't realise they could buy extra passes in the OMG Sale. If not this is probably more about having room in their camp for the extra vehicles and that's not actually a vehicle pass thing.

[raftin]

So they will sell me just vehicle passes in the OMG sale? That will solve all the problems. We don't need any more tickets for the event but did not realize that I can buy just vehicle passes in the OMG sale. I will go that route and save these alternative ideas.

[FIGJAM]

This is the first year for the VPs, so there will probably be some flexibility on getting passes.

[raftin]

And I am not saying all those ideas are my first ideas, if you want to run a theme camp at Burning Man you have to have like 4 different plans to get stuff done. If we score 2 passes in the OMG sale all is good but if we don't, it's either get creative or feed the scalpers.

[Jovankat]

I saw a be vehicle pass on eBay for $250 the other day I nearly spat my tea across my screen

[raftin]

And just to be sure, the OMG sale will allow the purchase of just a vehicle pass without having to buy a BM ticket, right?

[trilobyte]

I know we probably don't even need to answer that for a resourceful theme camp planner who reads things...but yes - just like in the pre-sale, directed group sale, and individual sale, you may purchase a vehicle pass in the OMG sale without purchasing a Burning Man ticket on the same order.

I'm going to go ahead and close up this thread, since I think everything's been answered and addressed. In summary:

• No you may not park on the open playa. Even if you aren't stopped while trying to do it, the vehicle will be removed at your expense
• No you may not park in Gerlach, on the highway, or in a neighboring community. Even if you aren't stopped while trying to do it, the vehicle will be removed at your expense.
• There's no designated transfer area for walk-ins or shuttles.
• Vehicle passes will be available in the OMG sale, as well as the after-market.
• Campmates could potentially park & ride in Reno, using the Burner Express bus (info about parking is available on that site's FAQ). Bonus for them, they'd skip the bulk of gate/exodus traffic.

If you've got additional questions, please feel free to send me a private message.