As the letter submitted in What MTB and MBR this month... Would you pay a fee to ride at a Forestry Trail Centre (not including parking fees)? The lettets are in light of Penmacho but what about all the others...? A (very loose) point to consider maybe for those who remember the Thatcher years. Not only did she snatch milk but also our forests! They are ours to ride in....Comments please
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would you pay? (Trail Centres)
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Posted 2 years ago #
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They are ours to ride in
True but the trails cost money to make and keep in good nickPosted 2 years ago # -
Happily pay to ride if you make the carpark free.
Posted 2 years ago # -
It depends on the price IMHO. £2-£3 is fine, but the prices being charged at Thetford are a disincentive for me to go there.
Posted 2 years ago # -
yes, if the place was well maintained, designed and good facilities at the center (toilets, shop, showers).
Posted 2 years ago # -
Did you actually buy the magazine ?, after all they're our forests.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I very rarely go to trail centres so look on it as a bit of a mission, and a treat. Reckon I'd pay £10 a day without fretting as long as the experience was a good one. More would irritate, especially if there was a parking charge and the tea and cake was pricey. Maybe £35-50 for a season ticket perhaps. But I'd want it to be transferable between centres for that.
Posted 2 years ago # -
It would be hard for me to justify travelling to a trail centre, then pay to ride it when I have Dartmoor for free on my doorstep. I think most people who live around the National Parks would feel the same. Although if you want to broaden the point, I would pay for an annual permit to ride on Dartmoor if they were to widen the access so I don't have to break the law on a weekly basis
Posted 2 years ago # -
Times are going to be tight over the coming years, so if a trail centre costs money to maintain then, yep would pay. I wouldn't expect publc funds to pay for them, as there are more important things to fund . I only use them 2/3 times a year though, as the Peak is free
Posted 2 years ago # -
1+ for what Ton said (not more than a few quid mind)
Posted 2 years ago # -
i think that more trails should use some form of pay-pal-esque honesty box.
in a 'i honestly forgot to donate when i was there, here's a couple of quid' style.
i've ridden at penmachno twice, and have forgotten to pay up twice, a pay-pal account seems like an easy way to catch people like me.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Yes, provided the fee is reasonable & the funds generated are used for development & maintenance, not as a profit centre.
Posted 2 years ago # -
As above would pay a few quid of or a set fee to access all centre's for a set fee. Can they charge for Scottish trail centres? Didn't think they were allowed to with the access code?
Posted 2 years ago # -
trailmonkey
I would pay for an annual permit to ride on Dartmoor if they were to widen the access so I don't have to break the law on a weekly basissame here with the Peak - if i got something in return and not just a cafe personally i would be happy to pay for the dynamite to blow up fairholmes
as to original question - i'd be hard pushed to think of any other outdoor activity that demands facilities but doesn't pay for them
(fortunately i'm just off out!)
Posted 2 years ago # -
Horse riders pay for annual permit at my local (FC) woods.
If it goes back into trails, why not? Haldon forest put the proceeds of their car park into the trails network and loos etc. (until the meter got stolen!) Only thing is that getting money from parking is easy to charge and police, not so for access/riding with people riding in and out or at night.Posted 2 years ago # -
Horse riders pay for annual permit at my local (FC) woods.
same here and this was used as an argument this morning about MTB's scaring horses - its a weak argument mind you
Posted 2 years ago # -
Julian makes a good point. I'm not sure what proportion of people at Swinley pay for a permit. And Hamsterley and CyB certainly are very easy to get into and to use without touching the visitor centres.
Posted 2 years ago # -
It'd have to be a seriously **** good centre to get ten quid out of me! Even then I'm not sure I would bother, after all there's only so many miles of trails I can cover. If you ship in an Alp for me I'll fork out £10 a visit no probs.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Yes, but I'd also like the option of putting in some voluntary time and getting a free pass. Good to see people on here generally appreciate the difference between access rights and the costs associated with maintained trails.
Biggest problem starts to occur when you get charged but the trails start to degrade. Paying (a reasonable) charge for parking seems the best way to go at the moment and is generally well accepted.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I'd gladly pay. Up to about a fiver a trip.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Yes, but begrudgingly. On the basis they need extra funds, I'd prefer them to charge more for ancillary services such as food which I've always thought generously priced.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Actually, can I change my position on this and say that I'd gladly pay to ride from Glyncwrrg if some of the fee went towards security ? Because at the moment, I'm not sure I want to ride there and there's no way I'd camp overnight.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Ok some interesting points re: maintaining them etc. But remembering these forests were once in public ownership and paid for through our taxes etc, what did we get back in return when they were all sold off? Not much... The same could be said for Public Rights Of Way: Supposing they were sold off, would you pay to ride on a Bridle Way? Surely its the same.. Jusy a few thoughts, I am still on the fence...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Yes, happily, especially in places that have no facilities to generate income. Although facilities are nice to have, it's the trails I'm interested in, and think the facilites should be self funding.
I'd prefer to see a rider permit too, rather than hefty carpark charges.Posted 2 years ago # -
in the 80's worked with the BMC on a handbook for climbing walls - design, management etc
at the time decent climbing walls were far and few and there was a trend to climbers helping a local authority centre build them to keep costs down and a strong philosphy from some groups that cost should be low - at the time the guide used was price of a pint of beer
along came some commercial operators opened large facilities, well maintained and charged 3-4X price of pint and people queued out the door - most cities now have competing facilities and that has in real terms kept the price down and the quality up
Posted 2 years ago # -
Yes I'd be happy to pay a couple of quid but not fussed about good facilities, just as long as the trails are well maintained.
Can someone tell me exactly where the honesty box is @ Penmachno as comments make me think its easy to miss & I'm riding there tomorrow.Posted 2 years ago # -
Can someone tell me exactly where the honesty box is @ Penmachno as comments make me think its easy to miss & I'm riding there tomorrow.
It's right by the gate heading out of the carpark , next to the faded and unreadable routemaps etc.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I think theres some good points here,security would be nice bonus,I understand all FC parking charges are put into one fund,I was talking to some locals at Hamsterley forest recently, and they have had very little, if any money for building new trails over the last year.
I think the odd notice around some of these centres advising the users that the trails are funded with the parking charges would be a nice idea.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Would there be men dressed as big mice and candyfloss too?
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hmmm. Is timber not the purpose for most of this forest? Trail centres are supplementary to the original use of the land. I would want to see the costing of supporting mtb related activity on FC land.
Although Llangedla is not FC, if they charged all visitors a £10er for every visit this summer, there would have been an obscene amount of money made. That wouldn't make it right, and couldn't see myself using a centre that based its income on a maximum profit model.
It's the thin end of the wedge
The next thing will be regulation and insurance issues and claims and associated b.s.Best avoided.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Interesting about what would be next..? Quite agree and I fear Forestry making money out of 'our fees'. They took the forests from us they should be funding our needs! Slowly making my mind up (and waiting to be shot!). If memory serves me right on condition of the forests being s...old off, the new owners (mainly FC)had to provide recreational opportunities for the public... Any old skool FC workers on here that remeber the sell off?
Posted 2 years ago # -
I regularly go to Dalby where there's a £7 charge [in summer] for using the road into it - I have [£43] season ticket
None of that AFAIK goes to into any sort of trail building or maintenanceWould I consider paying more for the upkeep of the trails? - I don't think so
Posted 2 years ago # -
I'm sure I read somewhere that the company building the new trails at Haldon quoted £21.60 per metre for the design/construction, not clear on what that included (FC might have to clear/fell trees etc)
Posted 2 years ago # -
But why should we foot the bill? Surely the FC have a duty to supply recreational usage? ok so they may well turn round and say ok you can walk in our forests for nothing.. till think they should be paying for trails andtheir upkeep..
Posted 2 years ago # -
I can see this ending up with MTB only allowed in designated "theme parks" for 10 quid a day, health and saftey, keep em away from walkers, dogs, children etc etc. They have special places for that MTB lark and so on.
I have my Swinley thing which was £20 odd for the year but frankly I hardly ride there anymore as it's just too.....organised.
Posted 2 years ago #
Topic Closed
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