Mystic MTB - Bright

[ozzybmx]

Make them official and they become very complicated.

Maybe they should take over the shuttles themselves instead of letting someone else make the money, Blue Dirt are probably not running at a loss.

Its like Maydena letting someone else run the shuttle business and give them an undisclosed percentage. Its a 'private' hill/mountain, run the place as a whole package. The shuttles are what you pay for, the food, beers and bike shop are only part of the whole picture.

It is a hard one, Bright will be busy even without MTBers.

 

[Stredda]

Maybe they should take over the shuttles themselves instead of letting someone else make the money, Blue Dirt are probably not running at a loss.

Its like Maydena letting someone else run the shuttle business and give them an undisclosed percentage. Its a 'private' hill/mountain, run the place as a whole package. The shuttles are what you pay for, the food, beers and bike shop are only part of the whole picture.

It is a hard one, Bright will be busy even without MTBers.

Unlike Maydena though, Alpine Community Plantation are primarily a forestry company that does allows to the land they lease for recreational use and contribute to care and maintenance of the roads and trails, but it's not their core competency or reason for being. They don't even own the land as that belongs to Hancock Victorian Plantations.

A user pays system would be difficult to implement as their are so many access points and who is going to police it?
Maybe a sponsorship program could be a income source? In the 2019/20 financial year Derby made $84k from sponsorship. They also earns $21k from merch and nearly $19k just from the showers. Once again resources need to be available to manage this so it doesn't come free.

Hopefully they can sort it out, I enjoyed my Mystic trip, even though I broke my ankle on the second last day there.

 

[smaj]

UPDATE: Hope for Mystic as Bright mountain bike park on the brink

After news spread that Mystic Bike Park would be closing, the entire Alpine community has rallied around these popular trails which are a foundational pillar of the High Country's economy.

www.ambmag.com.au

There are however several expectations from riders which will need to be altered moving forward. According to ACP, “Park users will need to be ready to consider a future with less vehicle traffic and more respect for trail closures and forestry operations. We will need park users to be ready to support a new financial model that rebalances the cost of the park toward the land users. That might be in the form of a membership or contribution through patronage of local businesses who support the park.”

 

[Switch]

HVP and ACP need council help to maintain the road and HVP need people to sign a liability waiver and this would all blow over. As the world gets more litigious it is understandable that they are worried someone is going to be seriously injured and then expect HVP to front the bill.
There is a feeling that HVP are asking for the world in the hope that they get a little bit of extra support.
It has to be a realistic solution as there are too many ways into the park to police and if they shut it down there will be a ton of illegal trails built within days.
Respecting trail closures is another big piece as too many people pull down bunting or ride into logging areas some from error and some from being selfish pricks who think the rules don't apply when they are on holiday.

 

[tkdbboy]

Future of Mystic Mountain Bike Park looking brighter

Mystic Park is heading into the warmer months with a positive outlook and clearer future. We have a new operational model and renewed focus on rider safety and experience, so you can keep enjoying the trails that you love. The way you access Mystic Park is changing soon - learn how you can...

www.alpinecommunityplantation.com.au

tl;dr if I interpreted correctly:
- No more self shuttles. Blue Dirt only
- Pay to pedal ($15)
- Pedal memberships available in different structures

 

[leitch]

Pay to play model and end of private shuttles beginning last week of October (just before the Cup Day holiday weekend):

Future of Mystic Mountain Bike Park looking brighter

Mystic Park is heading into the warmer months with a positive outlook and clearer future. We have a new operational model and renewed focus on rider safety and experience, so you can keep enjoying the trails that you love. The way you access Mystic Park is changing soon - learn how you can...

www.alpinecommunityplantation.com.au

Some of it makes sense, but the pricing model is over complicated and stupid. Obviously pushing people towards annual membership (which makes sense, and is a good deal if you're going to go and shuttle there more than 4d/year or ride up more than 6d/year), but it's an annoying extra thing to organise before a shuttle day or whatever... Why not just have a flat annual fee for access (with a monthly option to allow for holiday makers etc) at like $60/y, and then just add a $10/day "park funding levy" or something to all Blue Dirt shuttle tickets?

 

[mike14]

I've never ridden at Bright, is this new scheme something they'll be able to police easily (ie there's very limited access points) our is it likely a bunch of people will be 'jumping the fence'?

Also, I assume the prices listed there don't include the actual shuttle and that costs extra? If so, why is there a difference between the pedal-in and single shuttle day price? If you have to pay extra to sit on the bus anyway, what does the initial $10 get you?

 

[beeb]

If you have to pay extra to sit on the bus anyway, what does the initial $10 get you?

For people with fitness as bad as mine - many more runs in a day (ie: more than one, lol).

 

[mike14]

For people with fitness as bad as mine - many more runs in a day (ie: more than one, lol).

Pretty sure I'd claim victory in the 'lack of fitness' category!

There's no-way an all day shuttle is $10, that's incredible value.
A quick look at Blue Dirt shows it is currently $75 for a one-day uplift pass and I assume that won't change much now. So why would I pay $25 + the $75 for shuttles, versus $15 + the $75? Unless it's a carpark thing and the pedal-in ticket literally means you have to ride to the car-park versus drive there?

 

[tkdbboy]

Blue dirt has stated its shuttle prices stay as they are.
I assume that this includes the $25 and you don't have to purchase it seperately.

 

[shmity]

Blue dirt are offering refunds to people, which would suggest blue dirt will charge you for shuttles and you will still need to purchase a pass from ACP. Which will bring a shuttle day to 100 bucks per person if you only buy a day pass.

 

[Mattyp]

Just ride up....$95 for the year.

 

[rockmoose]

Just ride up....$95 for the year.

Can you shuttle back down for free, and do it again?

 

[Mattyp]

Can you shuttle back down for free, and do it again?

You can just drag your ass up Mt. Hotham or Buffalo if you want to do those sorts of shenanigans.

 

[Miguel76]

I’m happy to pay to play. My only criticism is Mystic is losing trails due to logging and don’t seem to be adding any replacements; Gravedigger, Mystic DH, Lower Hero’s, Caro’s, Fly by night, The Eiger, Rhys’s pieces… It seems the focus is on Hero & Shred Kelly, to the detriment of the whole Mystic off-camber, rooty vibe

 

[dhisbest]

Is anyone going to ride there for $100 a day, Maydena is $90 in it's peak and had loads more trail and maintenance. No-where in the world do you pay that much to ride trails which have seen no maintenance in 3 years and , no current plans for new trails.
Just for comparison (yes i know its a different situation). Whistler is $74 for a day pass, that includes maintenance on 90 plus trials, 3 chairlifts running 10 hours a day, i don't see how Mystic park needs >$25 ( i dont know what blue dirt pays them in their shuttle fee) to maintain a park that was mostly built by volunteers and have not seen maintenance in 3 year.

 

[dazz]

Everyone goes back to Mt Beauty?

 

[slowmick]

Love Mt Beauty.

 

[LPG]

I'd be really interested to see the books. The trails obviously benefit the area but there is either a lack of flow through of funds or they have expenses that other trail networks don't. So many areas are trying to get trails that bring people in the way bright has been but mystic/bright is going the other way.

Sucks to be the locals that have paid for self shuttling passes, now they can't even get that. Hopefully they will be reimbursed (from what money?)

 

[Switch]

The main issue is the unsealed road and the costs associated with maintaining it, which is why many locals who don't shuttle are pissed off and Council won't fund the maintenance of the road because it is on HVP's leasehold. The original reason for the fee for access was to reduce the usage and I think it didn't reduce the numbers as much as anticipated.
There is also the issue of the risk of liability and the need for users to sign a waiver which is taken care of by the new structure but could have been achieved through a QR code and a competition to win a bike or similar that would have got good take up.

There is no way they will be able to police it as you can enter the park from so many locations and nobody is going to want the job of going around asking everyone for proof of payment. Going to be a lot of agro over Christmas for all the people who are out of the loop on what's going on.

The Alpine Cycling Club is mandating that all members who use the park as part of a club function must have paid the fee and there are discounts in place for participating in sanctioned trail maintenance days, ACC members and for the junior program.

What worries me is that the money will be spent maintaining the road and not the trails as peoples expectations of what a pay to ride park are versus the current maintenance of Mystic are very different and the risk of loosing some of the free labour that maintained the trails. Dig to ride gets thrown out the window when you have to pay to ride.