How many vehicles were there in 2013?

[mournlight]

So, 35,000 vehicle passes. Does anyone know how this compares to last year? I'm wondering what percentage of a drop is the goal?

[Just_Joe]

So, 35,000 vehicle passes. Does anyone know how this compares to last year? I'm wondering what percentage of a drop is the goal?

I believe recent years have been ~2.1 people per vehicle, so 35K passes would maintain that ratio.
I think the goal is to grow the event without increasing the number of vehicles.

They can incentivize with a stick (car pass) or a carrot (HOV lane for Burner Express).

[Eric]

I believe Trilo posted elsewhere that last year was 1.9 people per vehicle average. The 35,000 passes is on track to cover everybody, we just need to see how it works out.

[mournlight]

I wish we could take advantage of the railway. It appears to be a freight-only class now, but in years past it served Gerlach as a passenger service. If we ran 5000 people on train from Winnemucca and 5000 up from Reno, that would be significant. I can't find exact figures, (maybe someone else knows what search terms to use) but I'm guessing that could be done with five trips of five cars from each station. They could all originate from the Reno Amtrak. It looks like it would be about an hour trip. I'm sure someone has already looked into this - has anyone ever seen the reasons that this isn't already working? Is it the condition of the tracks? The problem with where to park 4000 vehicles for a week? The luggage issue? The problem of getting them off the train and to their camping spot? We'd have to use a lot of shuttles on playa, but that could be an art car challenge.
I can't see how I could get there without a vehicle, due to carrying so much stuff for my camp's setup. But if I wasn't doing that, it would be fun to do a train ride.

[mudpuppy000]

I believe someone chartered a train in the past. No idea how it worked out. If the tracks are heavily used the track owner may not want any other traffic on it interfering with their shipping.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens with the car passes. Are they going to be more valuable than tickets? I know of a festival down in LA that the car camping passes sell out almost instantly, which is why I don't bother going to that festival anymore.

[theCryptofishist]

I believe someone chartered a train in the past. No idea how it worked out. If the tracks are heavily used the track owner may not want any other traffic on it interfering with their shipping.

I can say the owner does not want any other traffic on it. If you've taken Amtrak much, you've almost certainly been subject to a delay that involved pulling over to a siding and waiting for a freight to pass.
Also, I have no idea if there's working track for the station, and of course 500 people is a lot of buses that would have to be filled. But, I'm sticking with the freights must flow.

[trilobyte]

I'm moving this over to the Transportation board, since that's a better fit.

I don't know of the total number of vehicles, but according to the study done of last year's event, the average was 1.9 people per vehicle. 35K should be plenty. My understanding is that while in the future that number might be used to force more carpooling or mass transportation usage, that is not what's being done this year.

@mournlight - I wish it were possible too, but I suspect the cost of upgrading the rails (can't be single track if there's a passenger station) as well as building out the station would be as great as the cost of expanding the highway. There is a burner express bus stop at the Reno airport - perhaps as that service becomes more widely used, they'll be able to add other stops in town.

[Rice]

I believe someone chartered a train in the past. No idea how it worked out. If the tracks are heavily used the track owner may not want any other traffic on it interfering with their shipping.

I can say the owner does not want any other traffic on it. If you've taken Amtrak much, you've almost certainly been subject to a delay that involved pulling over to a siding and waiting for a freight to pass.
Also, I have no idea if there's working track for the station, and of course 500 people is a lot of buses that would have to be filled. But, I'm sticking with the freights must flow.

If I remember correctly, there are at least two (2) freight trains a day on that track. Among other concerns, the BRC airport runway tends to run in between the railway tracks and the city boundaries. I suppose this could be managed, but the yearly playa conditions tend to dictate the location of the runway.

This is not an impossible idea, but one which will require much planning and $$$,$$$.$$

[motskyroonmatick]

I believe someone chartered a train in the past. No idea how it worked out. If the tracks are heavily used the track owner may not want any other traffic on it interfering with their shipping.

I can say the owner does not want any other traffic on it. If you've taken Amtrak much, you've almost certainly been subject to a delay that involved pulling over to a siding and waiting for a freight to pass.
Also, I have no idea if there's working track for the station, and of course 500 people is a lot of buses that would have to be filled. But, I'm sticking with the freights must flow.

If I remember correctly, there are at least two (2) freight trains a day on that track. Among other concerns, the BRC airport runway tends to run in between the railway tracks and the city boundaries. I suppose this could be managed, but the yearly playa conditions tend to dictate the location of the runway.

This is not an impossible idea, but one which will require much planning and $$$,$$$.$$

There is a multi track siding in Gerlach on the Empire side of the tracks including what I would call a switching triangle with stub line to Empire. I'm sure Union Pacific would never allow mass freight unloading from their mainline direct to the playa. Too many things could go wrong. Perhaps the stub line to the Gypsum plant could be leased and a crude Container handling terminal set up. The down side is that people would have to plan even further in advance and the logistics of getting the right container to the correct recipient on playa would be challenging. It would definitely provide some short term employment opportunities to the locals if someone was bold enough to try it. It would be very hard to compete with the point to point service of OTR trucks and rental and delivery of the container handling equipment would be hugely expensive for such a short duration endeavor.

[Captain Goddammit]

Motsky is right, trucks would be far more cost efficient for one-time use and their ability to go directly to the playa or any other point eliminates a lot of logistic hassle.