Idly browsing the website, and saw the below on the booking an uplift page:

During the Covid-19 pandemic we will be running two 4.5 hour (as opposed to the standard single 6 hour) uplift sessions on weekends until the weekend of 5th/6th September. This will mean we can keep the number of riders using the uplift at any one time low and manageable yet provide an opportunity for more riders to get their uplift fix. The AM sessions will begin at 09:00 and the PM sessions at 14:30. We have strict social distancing and hygeine measures in place throughout the pandemic and face coverings will be mandatory on the uplift vehicles, you can find out more here. The uplift will be running at significantly reduced capacity at all times to allow for social distancing.

NOTE it isnt open for uplift yet but this seems to be how they will be planning on operating for the summer.

I’ve always defended the place in the past on threads here against pretty much every complaint. But not this. 25% less riding time with no discount.

I would have paid more to ride a part empty bus, and I’ll happily pay the covid increase on the pedal up price.

I guess its daylight that has set the change back in september when they can no longer do two shifts, hope it will be a proper length of uplift, so 10+ laps, at that point

The uplift will be running at significantly reduced capacity at all times to allow for social distancing.

I would have paid more to ride a part empty bus,

Isn’t that what they’re saying?

I would have paid more to ride a part empty bus,

Isn’t that what they’re saying?

I would have paid more, to get the full 10-4 riding time, rather than paid roughly the same (with a few quid covid tax) for a reduced ride.

Locals may feel different, but I’ve got a 4+ hour motorway round trip that isnt getting any cheaper or quicker.

About time I made the 8 hour drive to go to BPW, this year hopefully.

Nothing to stop you doing am uplift then staying until close and pedaling up to make the most of your day.

Come on fellas, be reasonable ? If they’re looking at lowering the numbers on the bus, they MUST come up with a way of getting the same revenue to break even on where they were before this ? They’ve lost out on 3 months revenue/profit ? you can’t expect prices to be the same but they have 30-40% less customers (or however many it works out as) surely ?

but I’ve got a 4+ hour motorway round trip that isnt getting any cheaper or quicker.

The journey might not be getting quicker, but at least now you will be getting home earlier. Happy days.

They’ve lost out on 3 months revenue/profit ? you can’t expect prices to be the same but they have 30-40% less customers (or however many it works out as) surely ?

Yep, either accept you need to pay enough to keep them afloat or accept that there might be no more BPW in 2021.

Come on fellas, be reasonable ? If they’re looking at lowering the numbers on the bus, they MUST come up with a way of getting the same revenue to break even on where they were before this ? They’ve lost out on 3 months revenue/profit ? you can’t expect prices to be the same but they have 30-40% less customers (or however many it works out as) surely ?

Agree with this – businesses and services that we want to keep need help at the moment.  Their costs are increasing, no revenue for months, maybe racked up loans and other debts just to be able to open again at all – if you value what they are providing, be kind, understand the situation, pay if forward!

2 X 4.5 hour stints as apposed to 1x 6 hour stint to make up for the reduction in numbers per uplift. I can’t see a problem with that unless I’m missing something obvious.

And only certain days of the week right? Want a longer slot take a day off work?

I’m saying I would rather pay ~£60 for a “full” day – which would work out as about the same cost per hour to them.

I guess they are getting some more money (and also paying more running costs) by keeping it going later into the evening.

seems fair to me. Don’t like it, ride somewhere else – other trails do exist. someone else will take the (more limited number of) spaces. They’re a business, not a charity, and I’m sure they would absolutely love to offer a full service, if they could.

Direct your anger at the government for their poor dealing with the crisis, not at the businesses trying to claw back the revenue they’ve lost because of it.

Come on fellas, be reasonable ? If they’re looking at lowering the numbers on the bus, they MUST come up with a way of getting the same revenue to break even on where they were before this ? They’ve lost out on 3 months revenue/profit ? you can’t expect prices to be the same but they have 30-40% less customers (or however many it works out as) surely ?

This x100. Its like that poor restaurant that opened two days ago, warned all guests in advance there would be a reduced menu and still received a poor review on Trip Advisor about the reduced menu, even though the reviewer acknowledged they’d been forewarned.

If you want all the nice things to still be around in 2021, there has to be some give and take.

It’s only Fri-Sats, take a days annual leave.

merthyr apparently has the highest covid infection rate in the country at the moment, but it’s highly localised- wonder whether that’ll affect things?

Its like that poor restaurant that opened two days ago, warned all guests in advance there would be a reduced menu and still received a poor review on Trip Advisor about the reduced menu, even though the reviewer acknowledged they’d been forewarned.

I hope the reviewer got the flaming they deserve!

So having re-read all the replies, seems options are:
– go on a week day
– go for the early slot on a weekend, followed by pedal up from 2.30 to 7.

To be clear again, my objection is paying the same for a reduced service, when I would prefer to pay more for the same (pre-covid) service. I thought more people would be in the same boat, given the UK’s population distribution and a large number of their weekend customers making long drives to be there.

I’m quite happy to be giving my money to my favourite businesses – especially service rather than product ones. 3 months of 80% pay when there is nothing to do or buy means I’ve got a fun chest to spend.

A weekend at the Afan lodge with the missus has been my “look forward to” event since about March

Can you sign on to both sessions? Pay more, get more.

I’m saying I would rather pay ~£60 for a “full” day – which would work out as about the same cost per hour to them.

I guess they are getting some more money (and also paying more running costs) by keeping it going later into the evening.

You could book a morn and afternoon slot then if you want more riding time

so thye had two options one that books out a full day even if you don’t use it or spilt the days in half allowing more people the opportunity to use it despit the reduced numbers on the bus?

Seems like they’ve picked the fairer otion all round!

Just to add my name to the long list of people supporting weeksy’s view…

To be clear again, my objection is paying the same for a reduced service, when I would prefer to pay more for the same (pre-covid) service.

So if the price for pre covid service went up to £75?

Because as it is you can now get better than pre covid service for an increased cost of just £74

Day Uplift Mon-Thurs = £41
Day Uplift Friday = £44
4.5 hour Weekend Session (weekends up to and including 5/6th September) = £37

So 6hr on a Friday is £44
9hr on a weekend £74
That’s less than £1/hr more

How much more would be acceptable given you’d happily pay more? £0.10 an hour? £10 an hour?

Do the morning and then pedal your little heart out for the afternoon, get your money’s worth for your silly 4hr drive time.

Locals may feel different, but I’ve got a 4+ hour motorway round trip that isnt getting any cheaper or quicker.

Petrol prices down about 20p/l so it is getting cheaper.

Petrol prices down about 20p/l so it is getting cheaper.

And clearer roads so its quicker too but I’m not sure the reality of the whole situation is actually a concern here.

Providing I can book both sessions I’m happy. It’s an 8hr+ round trip from North Yorkshire so I’d want a full day of riding on both days of a weekend. If I have to pay an extra £60-70 for that over two days in the current climate I’ll not complain.

Reality for me, you book one session, uplift a few times without breaks and then in the PM you can then just session stuff, they have new stuff at the bottom by the sounds of it, you can go halfway up and play on stuff and learn the bits you want or to the top and only go down half way, or even just session small bits over and over (with consideration for those uplifting), it’ll be quiet so you can get a pretty full day out of it.

Public apology time:

Day Uplift Mon-Thurs = £41
Day Uplift Friday = £44
4.5 hour Weekend Session (weekends up to and including 5/6th September) = £37
Day Uplift Weekends & Bank Holidays (from 12th September) = £48
Weekend Uplift Pass (from 12th September) = £92

I misread the above
And interpreted it as £48 for the three quarter day.

I think it was 42 previously, so £6 covid tax to cover their extra costs and recoup some losses is reasonable to my mind.

As a local who has been going there since it opened I won’t be going on the uplift, at BPW or anywhere else for the foreseeable as I don’t think getting in a bus with other sweaty, panting people is the best idea for now.

As for their pricing it looks high but considering their immense running costs it’s what they have to do to keep going. Part of me thinks they’re trying to keep running and generating the same profit as they normally have but when you crunch the numbers I don’t think that’s what’s going on. The high prices are more a reflection that they’ve expanded rapidly on the back of being fully booked for weeks in advance so can charge more in normal times. So they’ve got used to and planned this year around having all their buses running at full capacity all day, every day this summer and are most likely struggling to reduce costs as they had just started building the visitor centre extension and the new green. As long as they can fill the spaces they do have they should be ok. I might do a pedal-up day midweek sometime but even that cost is putting me off!

For the record I don’t generally agree with the way the park is run but don’t want to see them fail either.

For the record I don’t generally agree with the way the park is run but don’t want to see them fail either.

What’s the opinion of the local riding community in general towards BPW? I’m genuinely interested. Having those trails with an uplift option close to my back yard sounds fantastic but as with all things I suspect the reality is a little different?

Locals may feel different, but I’ve got a 4+ hour motorway round trip that isnt getting any cheaper or quicker.

4 hours round trip to ride your bike?!?! Is this normal for other people because it sounds absolutely ridiculous to me.

Do the morning and then pedal your little heart out for the afternoon, get your money’s worth for your silly 4hr drive time.

This if you must. My rule has always been riding time has to be twice driving time.
Again, maybe I’m just weird.

4 hours round trip to ride your bike?!?! Is this normal for other people because it sounds absolutely ridiculous to me.

Not normal for me, it’s a rare treat and I’d also want to get as much riding out of it as I could manage

RicB – I can only comment for myself and what I hear said about them in general.

The trails are first-class. They do tend to up the difficulty by putting in bigger jumps though, some more technical stuff would be better (I think this is being addressed in the next round of building). The main gripes seem to be:

The attitude of the bus drivers. They used to be all riders so encouraged you to get another run in but as they’ve expanded they’ve got non-riders so the service has dropped off. If you’ve been there you’ll know the grumpy fat one.
The prices. They were originally comparable to other venues but have crept up quite a bit over the years.
The opinions of the regular riders not being listened to. The general cock-up surrounding the withdrawal of the single uplift books and subsequent reinstatement spoke volumes a while back.
The place seems to have become more corporate and lost it’s initial atmosphere.

All points I generally agree with. No-one wants them gone but they do need to improve things and it does seem that the regulars and locals are not generally listened to. It may be the biggest uplift park in the UK but that does not automatically make it the best.

I’m saying I would rather pay ~£60 for a “full” day – which would work out as about the same cost per hour to them.

Surely this works out better then? Book both sessions then you’ve got 50% more riding time than before? £74 for 9h instead of £48 for 6?

This if you must. My rule has always been riding time has to be twice driving time.
Again, maybe I’m just weird.

If it helps, that’s weird 😀

thegeneralist
Member
Just to add my name to the long list of people supporting weeksy’s view…

+1

Also, half full busses will presumably mean quicker turnarounds so you might get more runs per hour anyway?

The trails are first-class. They do tend to up the difficulty by putting in bigger jumps though, some more technical stuff would be better (I think this is being addressed in the next round of building). The main gripes seem to be:

Yea I agree with this. I’m not a jumper but it seems to maintain any decent speed on the newer trails you have to be, which is why I find the mix trails frustrating. I’m hoping the newer stuff addresses that (more slow, rocky tech please!) I much prefer Zut Alors, Deep Nav, Root etc type trails

It doesn’t seem unreasonable to me?

I am always a bit surprised about how people get so annoyed with BPW – not just on here but FB and elsewhere too.

If you don’t like how they do something then don’t go. If enough people don’t go they will have to change it or close down. It is the same with shops, restaurants, gyms and everything else.

..people supporting weeksy’s view…

Same here. Good on em for working hard to find a solution to all the social distance bollocks. Long may they stay open.
4 hour drive is nothing for the joy that place has given me riding and spending time with my son. Something that certainly won’t last for many more years.