Maydena pricing

[mark22]

All this stuff makes a free public accessible model like Derby look good. You can ride for nicks shuttle yourself or pay for various uplifts. The best way to go IMHO. Bike parks sure have a place for sure however some of the comments here would suggest bang for buck is not always being achieved.

Funny animal the MTBer ever the unrealistic optimists, lost count of the times I've heard "they are going to build a chairlift" here or there on some proposed track network.

Latest here in SE QLD is the upcoming Olympic CC at Parklands I'll bet it goes the same way as Comm games track at Nerang (3 loops) of short trails or the like and very little investment since.

Looks like some great tracks being put down in Wollongong and more in Tas, like they need it lucky buggers.

Just had a thought Wollongong is probably halfway to QLD from Tas that means it's our turn next, proddy chairlift and all in it...

 

[ozzybmx]

All this stuff makes a free public accessible model like Derby look good. You can ride for nicks shuttle yourself or pay for various uplifts.

I can assure you, if they could shut that shuttle road to privateers, they would.

 

[Jabubu]

Mackay (Finch Hatton first) are building 95km of new trails, and Cardwell has a business case ready to go, fuck knows when Smithfield and Atherton will get new trails though

 

[Wake Jake]

I can assure you, if they could shut that shuttle road to privateers, they would.

Buck lobbyied for that at the start.

 

[ozzybmx]

Buck lobbyied for that at the start.

They had another go (or two) when Watson was CEO.

I remember there was a fuss coming up to our annual trip. I was thinking 16 days in Derby, 4-5 shuttles a day x 3 people, $150-$200 in uplifts for 16 days

 

[mark22]

I can assure you, if they could shut that shuttle road to privateers, they would.

Yep probably the Black Stump however that's the beauty of non leasehold/private land it should and has remained accessible excl maint etc. for the masses.

 

[mark22]

Mackay (Finch Hatton first) are building 95km of new trails, and Cardwell has a business case ready to go, fuck knows when Smithfield and Atherton will get new trails though

Ohhh fuck off... that to far north.

 

[rstim]

They had another go (or two) when Watson was CEO.

I remember there was a fuss coming up to our annual trip. I was thinking 16 days in Derby, 4-5 shuttles a day x 3 people, $150-$200 in uplifts for 16 days

Watson was CEO the whole time from when Derby began, he was one of the reasons Derby got to where it is today.

 

[Stredda]

Watson was CEO the whole time from when Derby began, he was one of the reasons Derby got to where it is today.

As much as the Dorset Council like to claim all the success, Derby was actually the brainchild of the Northern Tasmania Development Corporation NTDC along with the likes of locals like Rob Potter and Ben Mather. The council were actually very sceptical of the whole project and only got on board once it was obvious that it was going to be the success that it was.
It is interesting to see what was actually planned way back in 2011.
Mountain-bike-tourism-potential-in-northern-tasmania.pdf (ntdc.org.au)

 

[birddog69]

As much as the Dorset Council like to claim all the success

I remember not all that long ago that the Dorset Council mayor was pushing for logging right up to within 500mm of the trails. The council did not favor recreation/tourism over logging/resource extraction.

 

[bigdamo]

Send it shuttles has good pricing for there shuttles.

• Tippogorre Hills Single Trip$15
• Tippogorre Hills 3 Trip Pass$40
• Tippogorre Hills 5 Trip Pass$60
• Tippogorre Hills 10 Trip Pass$120
  (MULTI RIDER USE NO EXPIRY)

I'd hate to have a transport business now what with the cost of fuel and the way the pricing for fuel flucuates so quickly. Hard to factor that pricing in to futures prices.

 

[Haakon]

I can assure you, if they could shut that shuttle road to privateers, they would.

I got some actual grief from Vertigo for being dropped by Kirsty at the top of Blue Tier...

 

[yuley95]

Interesting reading this thread while in Canada for a bit. Totally different place and different approach.

Obviously the best way to provide cost effective shuttles is a chairlift but there is a tipping point to make it worthwhile and it seems we are not quite there at a lot of places like Mt Buller etc.

Then of course you have places like Maydena that will never be able to justify the spend to put a chairlift in (even if they could get approval for it).

I’ve ridden a number of bike parks here with a shit tonne of elevation and only been charged between $40 and $80 for the day.

While there are some places that are busy at that price (Whistler and coast gravity were busy) there are others with no line up, no wait and few people on the trails (big white and Revelstoke).

We just don’t quite have the number of people riding in Australia to demand the same networks or facilities.

I’ve ridden Maydena and I didn’t get the feeling they were there to profiteer. Simply passing on the cost to run the business and pay staff I reckon.

 

[Stredda]

Interesting reading this thread while in Canada for a bit. Totally different place and different approach.

Obviously the best way to provide cost effective shuttles is a chairlift but there is a tipping point to make it worthwhile and it seems we are not quite there at a lot of places like Mt Buller etc.

Then of course you have places like Maydena that will never be able to justify the spend to put a chairlift in (even if they could get approval for it).

I’ve ridden a number of bike parks here with a shit tonne of elevation and only been charged between $40 and $80 for the day.

While there are some places that are busy at that price (Whistler and coast gravity were busy) there are others with no line up, no wait and few people on the trails (big white and Revelstoke).

We just don’t quite have the number of people riding in Australia to demand the same networks or facilities.

I’ve ridden Maydena and I didn’t get the feeling they were there to profiteer. Simply passing on the cost to run the business and pay staff I reckon.

Yes, volume solves a lot of problems. Whistler also uses the lifts for skiing in the winter and that's where the use of chairlifts started.
There is still talk with the Maydena staff about a future chairlift so it's certainly not off the table. There is also talk of public free to ride trails at Maydena too (obviously not shuttle trails though)

 

[ozzybmx]

Send it shuttles has good pricing for there shuttles.

• Tippogorre Hills Single Trip$15
• Tippogorre Hills 3 Trip Pass$40
• Tippogorre Hills 5 Trip Pass$60
• Tippogorre Hills 10 Trip Pass$120
  (MULTI RIDER USE NO EXPIRY)

I'd hate to have a transport business now what with the cost of fuel and the way the pricing for fuel flucuates so quickly. Hard to factor that pricing in to futures prices.

Can't remember the elevation drop but its not much more than 150m ? These shuttles take 3 minutes and a 900m in length on a tarmac road. They'd do less distance in a 10 trip pass that one run up the Maydena dirt road.

 

[Mattyp]

If some of these shuttle companies changed their business model to Provide a good experience and turn a Profit, instead of just trying to Maximise profits there would probably be more business.
I'll use Bright as an example. To get 7 runs in from the top you basically need to be there from the first shuttle till the last.. 10am till 4? Or thereabouts... at around 6-7mins for a full top to bottom run, that's alot of faff time, especially when you used to be able to get 3 top to bottom runs in, in less than an hour shuttling yourself.
Sitting around waiting for the frothers to fill up the bus as they shralp their way down the hill in 20mins is shit, and gives an old fart like me alot of time to get angry.
By comparison a few years ago I was up at Coronet Peak in NZ and for the first 3 hours had the entire hill and chairlift to myself... the chairlift would spin whether there were people there or not, similarly in Roto this year catching the shuttle bus up with 1 or 2 other people... if you were at the shuttle pick up when the bus got there you'd load up and if no-one else was coming the bus would go...sure it could have sat around and waited, but riders want to ride.
Luckily I don't mind a pedal up, and I'd rather spend 3-4hrs actually riding my bike, yes even up hill, than sit around waiting for 6hrs.

 

[ozzybmx]

I got some actual grief from Vertigo for being dropped by Kirsty at the top of Blue Tier...

Yeah they get pissed off with private vehicles.

My missus gets aggro too, she thinks she is the shuttle queen, calling out every sector and even the unnamed sectors, 'blind corner' is one.
She gets behind a private vehicle with no UHF and calls them both through.

 

[beeb]

If some of these shuttle companies changed their business model to Provide a good experience and turn a Profit, instead of just trying to Maximise profits there would probably be more business.
I'll use Bright as an example. To get 7 runs in from the top you basically need to be there from the first shuttle till the last.. 10am till 4? Or thereabouts... at around 6-7mins for a full top to bottom run, that's alot of faff time, especially when you used to be able to get 3 top to bottom runs in, in less than an hour shuttling yourself.
Sitting around waiting for the frothers to fill up the bus as they shralp their way down the hill in 20mins is shit, and gives an old fart like me alot of time to get angry.

I was about I to say "I hardly ever have to wait for the shuttles", then I thought about the rest of what you said.

Ah well - works for me!

(TBH - the shuttles at Buller were running mint last time I was up there. Much less wait time than I've had at Falls and Bright in the past, and leaving with buses part-full if necessary to keep things moving. Longest wait was maybe 5 minutes...)

 

[Mattyp]

(TBH - the shuttles at Buller were running mint last time I was up there. Much less wait time than I've had at Falls and Bright in the past, and leaving with buses part-full if necessary to keep things moving. Longest wait was maybe 5 minutes...)

Mint relative to what?
Doing 25runs at Buller used to be a real thing when the chairlift was spinning.
Edit: Also you were probably lucky not to get multiple rides on the van with 780,000km on the odometer that couldn't get out of 1st for 90% of the road up...

 

[beeb]

Mint relative to what?
Doing 25runs at Buller used to be a real thing when the chairlift was spinning.
Edit: Also you were probably lucky not to get multiple rides on the van with 780,000km on the odometer that couldn't get out of 1st for 90% of the road up...

Relative to 5-10 minute waits and can't fit on the van at Falls, or wait 10-20 minutes at Bright.

I think our last uplift at Buller that old van shat a turbo though. White smoke for daaaaaaaayyyyyzzzz... lol. 1st gear was still quicker than riding up anyway, unless going full @ozzyeebonturbo up the hill.