They’ve finally announced 2014’s theme: “Caravansary”
For countless centuries, travelers along the Silk Route crossed paths in caravansaries, a network of oases and sanctuaries that dotted the 4,000-mile road from Europe to East Asia. These bustling caravan stops offered more than just shelter from the desert wilderness; they were vital centers of cultural exchange, bringing together traders, pilgrims, monks, nomads, traveling entertainers, and wild-eyed adventurers from all points of the compass to share their stories around a common fire. Though fueled by mercantilism, their legacy to us is a grand commerce of ideas — a swirling exchange of languages, legends, technologies, philosophies and art that helped shape nearly every aspect of our modern world.
This year we will create a caravansary that occupies the crossroads of a dreamland: a bazaar of the bizarre wherein treasures of every sort, from every land and age, flow in and out to be flaunted, lost, exploited and discovered. This is not a tourist destination, but a home for travelers who come here bearing gifts….Anyone may pose as ‘merchant’ here, and anyone may play a ‘customer’, but nothing in this strange emporium shall have a purchase price — no quid, no pro, no quo — no trade at all will be allowed in this ambiguous arcade
…et cetera, et cetera. You can read more about it on the official site.
So the theme is “commerce and trade”, with an Arabian Nights twist. At the same time, they are revamping their marketplace – related? We’re assuming that trade will continue as always with coffee and beverage sales in Center Camp, ice and so on.
Personally, I liked Cargo Cult a lot better. What is this throw-back to the ancient Silk Road going to mean? A lot of people dressed up as sheikhs? Camel art cars? Hookahs?
Here’s what the Man is going to look like, seems like it’ll be bigger and burnier than ever
(Design by Larry Harvey and Don Clarke, illustration by Andrew Johnstone and Jim Pire)
Now, on to tickets. The $400,000-odd ticketing contract has been taken away from Inticketing, and given to Ticketfly. They are charged with implementing what looks like essentially the same ticket price tiers as last year – 3,000 early bird tickets for $650, 15,000 invitation-only VIP tickets at $380, 38,000 regular tickets at $380, 1,000 last minute tickets at $380, 4000 low-income tickets at $190. This adds up to 61,000 – same as last year, where the population was capped at 68,000. Are there an additional 7,000 free tickets handed out? I doubt it. These are probably gate or insider sales. Yes, yes, I know “there’s no gate sales”, but I also know that the official line from BMOrg is not always the same thing as the truth – and I know more than a few people who purchased tickets at the gate in 2013.
Unless you’re on the World’s Biggest Guest List, you’ll still need to create a Burner profile, log on to register, then log on at a later date to purchase. The point of this system is not clear, I remember it being a real pain in the ass trying to get in at exactly noon PST from Envision in Costa Rica. It is certainly not an easy system for the global travelling caravansary of Burners that they’re trying to promote.
The most significant change is that if you’re bringing a vehicle, you’ll need a vehicle pass, which costs $40 plus “applicable fees” – since they don’t just say “taxes”, presumably there are going to be other expenses added on top of these ticket and pass prices. Vehicle passes have been capped at 35,000; each person can buy up to two, but if you buy one of the 3,000 early bird tickets, you can buy 4.
Leaving the unknown additional costs to one side, BMOrg just made themselves another $1.4 million. Thankfully they managed to keep the ticket prices the same.
It is not clear whether you can only purchase 1 vehicle pass per ticket, they’ve said nothing so far to indicate that, but some online have speculated it.
Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, January 22 for the first tranche of tickets at $650 each. If you’re so keen to go, or so afraid to miss out, that you want to pay almost double for your tickets, you will need to register between January 16 (noon) and January 20 (noon). Once registered, you will be able to log on after January 22 to purchase.
After that there will be a “Directed Group sale” of 15,000 tickets at $380. If you’re on the World’s Biggest Guest List, you will be invited to log on from February 16. Yes, it’s invitation-only for these tickets, and they don’t have to muck around with the “register then log in on a different day to purchase” shenanigans that the rest of us must endure.
Regular punters, who just want to get a ticket to Burning Man, can register to get tickets between February 20-23, and then log on after noon PST on February 26.
Low income ticket purchasers will just have to wait their turn, there’s no information about when they’ll be allowed to purchase tickets. The STEP system will be implemented, so that if you buy tickets and don’t need them, you can lose money on them by recycling them through BMOrg (encouraged) rather than making money by selling them on the secondary market (you’re bad if you do this).
Here’s the official justification of the Vehicle Pass from the Jacked Rabbit:
Traffic is the greatest impediment to the growth and sustainability of Black Rock City. Burning Man is under pressure from the Bureau of Land Management and Nevada Department of Transportation to reduce the number of cars entering the event. Highways 447 and 34 are at max capacity during the event and we’re being asked to pay for road damage caused by participant vehicles. Road travel represents 60% of the carbon emissions related to the event.
And the #1 challenge experienced by participants last year? Entry and Exodus.
Clearly, it’s critical we address the traffic issue — and we can only solve this problem by working together as a community.
We conducted a poll on the biggest issues to Burners last year. The Top 10 issues were:
Cops – too many and too much (24%)
Rape Kits on the Playa (14%)
People in plug-n-play camps (11%)
Too many people (7%)
Bicycle theft (7%)
Too much dubstep (6%)
BMOrg not helping artists raise money (5%)
Not enough gifting (5%)
Too many rules (4%)
Too many virgins (4%)
Exodus/entry problems/waiting times came in as part of “other”, with a total of 27 votes – not enough to make the top 10.
The idea of limiting carbon emissions is a noble one. I believe the motivation is more likely to be a deal cut with the authorities, along the lines of “if you cap the number of vehicles on our roads, that reduces the concerns in our community about traffic, litter, and accidents; so we’ll let you have more people total”. Meaning they can sell more tickets. If you’ve ever played Monopoly, you’ve probably been assessed for street repairs before. The more houses and hotels you have, the bigger the bill. Capping the number of vehicle passes seems like a way to cap the street repairs bill for BMOrg.
Note that the wording says “all vehicles driving into Black Rock City will now be required to have a Vehicle Pass”. This means it’s not just for Burner cars. Trailers bringing art cars, art installations, camp equipment and supplies will all have to have passes. In previous years there have been 15,000+ early access passes. Before Burning Man starts, there are literally thousands of trucks coming in and out with deliveries. The passes that go to these service vehicles, are passes that won’t go to Burners. It seems that they’ve taken their Gate count of an average of 1.9 people per car, and calculated from last year’s population of 68,000 that 35,000 should pretty much cover it. 68,000/1.9 = 35,789, so only 789 extra people have to carpool, right? Well what about the delivery vehicles? And what about people who buy 2 car passes but only need 1?
Here’s our prediction: this new system is going to lead to 2012 lottery-style chaos. The 3000 people rich and stupid enough to pay $650 for $380 tickets, are able to buy 4 vehicle passes each. Which, it seems likely, they will all do, thinking to help out friends who are going to need them. I mean, if you’ve got an extra $270 each to pay for the same tickets, you probably have a spare $160 on top of that too. So that’s 12,000 vehicle passes gone, or more than a third of the total allotment.
Then, the VIP, invitation-only ticket sale will start . Since almost all of these people are part of a theme camp, they will all buy the maximum number of vehicle passes (2 each), knowing that everyone in their camp is going to need them, particularly build crews and delivery vehicles. If you’re on this VIP guest list, there’s a good chance that you’re a regular Burner and will have an RV. There’ll only be 23,000 passes left at this point, so 3,500 of the 15,000 won’t be able to get vehicle passes. Theme camps won’t know if they’ll be able to get their delivery vehicles in, trucks pulling art cars and large art works, and so on.
By the time regular customers come to buy tickets, on February 26, there will be much concern in the community about getting vehicle passes. If my previous assumptions were wrong, and the vehicle passes didn’t already sell out, they will now be gone in minutes. Seconds, even. Most of the 38,000 people trying to secure tickets at this point, won’t be able to get vehicle passes. If the system says “you can get a ticket, but not a vehicle pass”, they might pause to consider the logistical implications of this. The chaos and confusion will lead to a lot of half-completed database transactions, which in turn will melt down the system.
Planning your trip to Burning Man is going to be much harder, if you can’t take a vehicle. It’s one thing to say “everyone should just ride share”, it’s another to say “you can buy a ticket, but you can’t get your RV in”.
And what about the heavy-handed police presence? What happens if you offer someone to share a ride in your vehicle, and they have drugs? Are you supposed to search all their bags before you let them in? The cops are usually focused on the driver in these situations. If it’s someone else’s bag, then probably that person AND the driver are going to get in trouble. The driver is an accessory to the trafficking.
It’s not easy to get to Burning Man without a motorized vehicle. Even if you can get to Reno, there’s still hours of driving on empty desert roads ahead of you. If you’re coming from San Francisco, Burning Man is 342 miles away (550 kilometers). You want to ride share, everyone’s going to need to be ready on time, and want to go at the same time as you. One thing I’ve learned from millions of miles of road trips in dozens of countries and states, is that the more people you add to a vehicle, the more time your journey takes. Bathroom breaks, photo stops, and general dicking around. That’s why I prefer to travel with a smaller group.
A quarter of the Burners are from a different country, for these punters planning ride share is much harder than for people who live in the Bay Area or Reno. Sure, they can get one of the many buses, but it’s not easy to travel around the world with tent, coolers, camping gear, etc. They need to rent a car at the very least and buy that stuff on the way; or, more likely, they want to rent an RV and sleep in that.
photo by Michael Macor
There are also a lot of Burners coming from other States, many of whom are used to driving with their bikes, costumes, and the rest of their gear. They probably plan on meeting up with their friends once they get to the Burn, not rendezvouing beforehand. A giant parking lot of cars is going to accumulate somewhere, probably Reno, as these people meet up with their friends to rideshare in – this will be rich picking grounds for criminals.
Last year, Lightning in a Bottle moved to a new location in Temecula, near San Diego. They brought in a system of selling RV passes. The RV passes sold out in about 3 minutes. Because of this, I wasn’t going to go, until pressure from friends at the last minute convinced me to look on Craigslist. I was able to buy an RV pass on the secondary market, for more than double the original price.
I predict the same thing will happen here: these vehicle passes will go for a lot of money on Craigslist, Stubhub, eBay, and everywhere else black market sales occur. BMOrg insiders will all secure all the vehicle passes they can get their grubby little hands on, in order to make money for themselves re-selling them at a premium. Everyone who knows a BMOrg insider, will be hitting them up for tickets and vehicle passes, so they’re assured of a nice cashflow stream.
The rest of the community, finding that vehicle passes have “sold out”, will realize planning a trip to Burning Man has become an order of magnitude harder. And will probably lose interesting in going, or decide to skip a year. By the time the event comes round, what has been billed all year as a “sold out event” will turn out to be down in population from the year before.
That’s my prediction, I’d be happy if I’m proven wrong and everything goes smoothly. What do you think about the new vehicle pass system, Burners?
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Many of the changes haven’t been positive, and it’s becoming a real pain in the ass, causing the folks who make it happen to lose interest. It’s not unreasonable to expect attendance to decline.
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For anyone that may be interested in securing a vehicle pass, and registered for the pre sale, you can log in, and just buy up to 4 vehicle passes, without paying $650 for burning man tickets. If anyone’s interested.
I am at a loss to think of another way they could have implemented this that would cause more problems. Really. I suppose with that $7+ million in overhead and profit, it is unreasonable to expect the BOrg to spend more than 30 seconds to think these things through. They have more important things to do.
Gods forbid they post on their many social media outlets to ask for ideas on how to implement the car passes, before they lay down the law from their pure and immaculate conception of all things Burning. After all, they always have these ticketing things figured out perfectly the first time.
Besides, as emotional angst vampires, this purely unnecessary car pass drama makes them very happy. Hey, we absolutely need them to keep pissing in the stone soup. How boring the other 51 weeks of the year would be without them – planning nifty theme camps is so last-decade!
My “yes, but…” filter has been triggered. Will this affect your individual-ticket-sale status? Will the system be smart enough to say ‘you’ve already purchased from this address?’ in which case you’d have to do another profile with another address? Ugghh, could it be more FUBAR?
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Ride the Burner Express! We sent our gear up in our camp truck and a friend’s RV and rode in and out on the Burner Express. We (free) shuttled from a parking lot in Reno to the Airport where the shuttle picked us and our gear up (2 suitcases free, pay for up to 4). $60 each way with standard luggage. We bypassed the entire line in both directions. Total travel time Reno Airport to BM was about 3.5 hours each way, even with a short stop in Gerlach. They will even stop at a supermarket for folks who need to pick up water and other last minute items (different busses for direct versus indirect) for a small fee. Our camp mates driving out left around 11pm and made it to the hotel in Reno around 10:00am. We left at 5:30am and made it to Reno just after 9am! Skipped the entire exodus! There was a small delay with the truck carrying gear, and then we had to call our shuttle, but we were relaxing at breakfast with our friends at the hotel in no time! The Burner Express was well loved, and I think the BMOrg is planning to rely heavily on them this year. Problem solved!
I was planning on doing the shuttle this year for sure. Two small problems: 1 is bikes (I’m a fly-in, who is going to deliver one to me at the airport?) and the other is numbers, that is, last I heard they were hoping to do 5000 seats, which is good but probably won’t fill the demand.
IN your poll, though, you didnt offer “exodus/entry/vehicle traffic” as a choice, right? So that’s meaningless.
It’s not meaningless. We offered “too many people” and “other”…27 people who cared about Exodus managed to figure it out and type it in. I don’t consider their votes to be meaningless at all, do you?
Exodus has always been a problem and always will be … Unless they somehow change the tiny roads going from the event and through Gerlach. You could argue that this makes Exodus meaningless as an issue. We have no information that there were more than 35,000 vehicles last year – which would make BMorgs new tax meaningless too, in terms of reducing Exodus times or otherwise changing it in any way.
The poll’s still open, you can still vote. Make your voice count! Just type Exodus in other if you care about it so much. You can vote for up to 3 issues. http://burners.me/2013/10/02/what-are-the-burning-issues/
I feel whom ever wrote this has a lot of negative energy and paranoia. It’s a feast. Plenty to go around. Plenty to share. Plenty to give.
It’s no famine. Chill out and take ONLY what you need. If you’re a true burner you won’t be capitalizing on ticket or car pass sales. I personally think RVs are great. 6-10 people can fit in one! 1 vehicle. 8 people. All water equipment, bikes, etc. share the love kids.
when was the last time you took an RV to Burning Man with 10 people in it? Take ONLY what you need, and another 9 people and all their gear and (potentially) drugs? Hold on, let me reply for you: “no one does drugs at Burning Man, it’s in the FAQ, haven’t you even read it”
Feast, and restriction, are two opposite concepts.
As for the negative energy, here’s what I’m about:
http://burners.me/2014/01/09/40-well-spent/
that’s what I call sharing the love. NOT, more taxes.
And how many “true burners” do you get with the BOrg (quite successfully) catering to virgins? Remember the scalping in 2012 after the 2011 sell-out? The scalpers do.
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Could we use that money on widening the roads to the event? Thus allowing more traffic?
“we” could. But it’s not “our” money. It’s “our” party, and “their” money. Roads are very expensive, the extra $1.4 million probably buys a couple of miles at best – if it was spent on that, but we have no information that it’s going to be.
Next year was better!
Sooo glad I chose to take this year off. Crap theme & an another over-ambitious and poorly thought out attempt to “fix” something that will only turn out in chaos and excessive scalping. & no man base. 🙁 I’m usually pretty forgiving of BMorg’s choices and mistakes but clearly they didn’t learn their lesson from the lottery fiasco. Crossing my fingers that once this all blows up, their pull their heads out of thier a$$es for next year. <3
Wouldn’t it be more prudent to sell a Single or double Occupancy Vehicle pass to encourage ride sharing, thus putting the burden on THOSE participants than on the people that are already ride sharing or bringing all the things that make Burning Man wonderful?
Exellent idea!! If you have three or more ticketed people in your vehicle, no entry pass required.
This would encourage car pooling, reduce carbon emissions, maybe even improve entry and exit times a little. However, BMorg would make less money under an idea like this. Only the customers would benefit!
Sorry. Of course. How silly of me. I thought the BOrg actually wanted to reduce the load on the highway and exodus. Improvement is not the issue. The issue is to cut more people in on the BOrg action without cutting into their profit and the “overhead” of prefunctory payment to their friends.
This sounds like a good idea, but might not cap the number of vehicles to 35,000 the BMorg apparently wants – whatever their reasoning. Just means people with $40 bucks to spare could get in solo. Pretty sure that applies to well over 35,000 of us.
It’s all about the true religion of the US, the worship of money and acquisition.
I can see additional fees popping up with each successive event. Parking Fees, environmental waste fees, surcharges, etc. Whatever the money hungry parasites running the borg can think of.
well said. Although I would gladly pay a $50 waste processing surcharge, to have trash disposal facilities/vehicles on site, and to plant trees to offset all the fossil fuels we “burn”
I loved the year, I beleive it was 2007, when BRC was supposed to be “green.” Just watch the diesel fuel trucks trundle through BRC delivering to all the gensets, right behind the RV water and waste servicing trucks.
“Hi, honey, what’s for dinner?”
“Don’t know, let me check the fridge… How about frozen pizza?”
So, what is the fee for all the bazillionaires who chopper in like a MASH unit?
Huh? “Exodus/entry problems/waiting times” didn’t even make the top ten of issues? Did you wait for the meds to wear off before giving them the survey?
Half way thought out idiotic decisions is what I expect from the BMORG now. It’s frustrating as hell, but part of me loves watching the shit storm unfold, that these idiots create, year after year. Wicker man 2014…oops I mean Burning Man 2014 (sorry this new man looks like something else that I have seen before) will still be fun. It will still be full of idiot scene hipsters. It will still be full of sparkle ponies. It will still be full of yahoos, and frat boys. It will still also be full of amazing burners. Unfortunately some things may be missing, do to a lack of vehicle passes, for the trucks that were gonna bring in all the cool shit. And lets not even think about the lack of vehicles to log out all the trash at the end of week… lol
Burningman sucks don’t go
My last two years I’ve had a shit time carting people to and from the burn. Once we were even pulled over and my passenger was found with drugs. Thankfully I wasn’t persecuted, but I did make a vow never to carpool again.
Now I have to pay extra, and might face an issue of sold out vehicle passes? What about multiple vehicle groups who really have a lot of great things, art cars or camp stages or kiosks, to bring to the burn? I get the pressure but this solution punishes everyone.
If I don’t get a performer/volunteer ticket like I have in the past, I will absolutely be skipping this burn.
I’m also nervous about this, and think that it could be a major concern if handled poorly, but I’d like to think that the org is smart enough to see the potential problem. My prediction is that during the sales each individual will be limited to buying the same number of vehicle passes as tickets. That would mean that only 3,000 passes go out during pre-sale, and 15,000 go out during the targeted sale (please don’t denigrate it by calling it a VIP sale–it’s the best solution possible to a serious, tricky problem). There were an average of 1.9 people per vehicle last year (source: http://blog.burningman.com/2014/01/news/solving-the-burning-man-traffic-issues/), which means those passes provide car rides for 36,000+ attendees. I put a “+” on there to account for scarcity and the $40 fee encouraging more people to rideshare, as intended. There are still 17,000 vehicle passes available for the individual sale, so that’s 34,000+ more getting rides that way.
End result? Space for 70,000+ people in individual cars, not including the Burner Express, flights in, vehicles that come in and out ferrying multiple passenger loads, or other methods.
The sky is not falling. The Man abides.
I suspect that you are right about the limit of 1 car pass per ticket, but it doesn’t just magically fix things. If 18,000 car passes are sold in the early-bird and to the VIPs, then there are only 17,000 left – and 52,000 tickets still to go. There appears to be no way for the 7,000 “regional” ticket giveaways that Aaron mentioned to get vehicle passes, either.
I think the problem is that the gate count of 1.9 people per vehicle, is being arbitrarily applied to the ticket numbers. There’s an assumption here that if they sell 18,000 tickets, then they’ll only sell 9,000 vehicle passes. I think this assumption is false. Statistics getting in the way of reality. Burners are people who like to be prepared, especially the early-bird ones. They will buy an extra vehicle pass even if they’re not sure they need one, if the 1.9 ratio doesn’t hold for the first 2 tranches of sales then the squeeze is really going to be felt by everyone else.
We don’t know if the 35,000 number has been fixed with the authorities, or if it’s just something BMOrg have plucked out of the air as a “nice to have”. There could always be more vehicle passes issued, if another “crisis” ensues – meaning even more money than $1.4 million flowing to BMOrg from this new revenue stream.
If you suspect I’m right about one ticket / one pass, why did you write that you predict that the 3,000 pre-sale tickets will be sold along with 12,000 vehicle passes, and that the 15,000 directed sale tickets would more than drain the rest of the pool? That just seems like needless alarmist rhetoric to piss people off (it’s working, by the way).
You’re right that people will buy vehicle passes at a rate faster than the 1.9 figure, because scarcity breeds hoarding. But when that happened with tickets in 2012, the organization adapted and the world did not end. They changed their ticketing structure in response to demand, and STEP/Craigslist/ePlaya were effective tools for redistribution of extra tickets bought as guarantees. I firmly believe that if the BMOrg was beholden to the 35,000 figure due to an external regulation or agreement, they would have made that abundantly clear–they get a lot of criticism as it is, and if something unpopular isn’t their fault they’re not going to take the blame for it. Self-imposed rules can always be changed if the need arises, which it very well may, but I doubt in a catastrophic manner. I think you’re right that they’re being overly optimistic and short-sighted, but there’s room for adjustment as needed.
I took their words at face value when I was writing the story, early bird purchasers can buy up to 4 vehicle passes. Then, commenters on Facebook challenged this, so I amended the story with “It is not clear whether you can only purchase 1 vehicle pass per ticket, they’ve said nothing so far to indicate that, but some online have speculated it.” As more commenters are seeming to support this view, I am starting to suspect that you and they are right – it’s not 4 vehicle passes. For now, though, I don’t see a need to change the story – I’m going by BMOrg’s words “there is a maximum of 4 vehicle passes per person”. I mean, they DID say that, I’m not making stuff up. If they say something different, I will update accordingly.
White Hat: The announcement was poorly worded, and they will clarify it to say, up to four tickets, and up to one vehicle pass per ticket.
Black Hat: They left it intentionally ambiguous, so that their shills can give it a positive spin, while the insiders hoard the vehicle passes for fun and profit.
White Hat: The BOrg will anticipate this crash and burn scenario, and limit the car passes to one per two tickets, even, gods forbid, they have to “change their mind.”
Black Hat: The BOrg is always looking for an angle to be control freaks for their private party, exactly like lobbyists craft laws with loopholes for Congress. They see the car passes as a slightly lower-profile way to hand out/manipulate favors, and to let their insiders cash in on the scalping… that the BOrg has said is a mortal sin. (How DARE anyone profit on the tickets that they clear a good 50% in gross profit and overhead.)
Will be interesting to see how this new twist shakes out. However, if the car passes dry up by the time of the main ticket sales, as you predict, this could be a new high in BOrg ticketing fiascoes. Might make 2012 look like a picnic.
I’m wearing a Black Hat on this one. I know that people connected to BMOrg were selling tickets for cash above face value last year, because I was offered one at a $150 premium. I know a lot of people connected to BMOrg BTW, I’m not going to rat anyone out.
The vehicle pass encourages more plug-n-play camps.
agreed – it’s a guaranteed way to get an RV. The on-Playa RV delivery services pay the org a cut as well, whereas they don’t get any money from the off-Playa rental companies.
So, now I want to know that best way to get into a plug-n-play!
“your wish is my command”, as the Djinni said to Aladdin…
http://burners.me/2012/06/26/slum-lords-of-plug-n-play-camping/
I imagine the new fee is to partially cut down on the cost to the Org that the area is charging for road maintenance– and it might be another push towards people using their burner shuttle.
That being said: I just came across this blog for the first time this week, and if the pedantic and whiny tone you use to cover something is as standard as it seems, I’ll probably steer clear from this site from now on.
I get you’re jaded by the event and how it must seem to suck now, but it makes your writing unpleasant to get through. I think I’ll start my own subreddit and at least be entertained at the same time.
I think the event is great. I’m not jaded by the event at all – although the huge number of people, mostly virgins, does make it suck a little compared to some of the smaller burns in the past. Like, riding on Esplanade sucks more than it used to. But you won’t see me complaining a lot about these things, even though I think they suck a bit. It’s the management of the event that I’ve been critical of. Why? Well read the posts if you want to understand why.
Jesus. Could you cry and complain anymore than you do? If you so much in disagreement with the Bmorg, then why do you even go? Why don’t you start your own event? And the 15,000 “VIP” tickets to to people who have registered or organized theme camps in the past, so they don’t run into a debacle like they did in 2012, where camps that had been allotted huge amounts of space didn’t get enough tickets to even run a camp. And the “extra” 7,000 for “insider sales”? Ever heard of the Regional Network? They get gift tickets. And you also have all the volunteers that work what would be considered full-time while they are there. It seems to me that you have some personal beef with the event, and you just try to do everything you can to get other people angry or upset about nothing.
how do these 7000 get vehicle passes?
BTW, check out our poll. If it was just me in disagreement with BMOrg, the result wouldn’t be a 70% vote for “sucks” (from 227 votes as I write this)
I agree, sometimes ideas work sometimes they don’t. This article is creating propaganda against an idea that has not yet fully been discussed and is missing many of facts. I am sure bmorg has taken in to account problems that could be similar from previous burns. Including keeping many undisclosed passes available to be released as needed. I am part of a one of the major art installs on the playa. We have already started brain storming solutions to most of our logistic problems we see arising. But, there are better solutions rather than pumping out drama before it has even happened. Most of my group thinks it can be a great idea, and many of that previously could have carpooled- did not! We seem to have it all solved even if 1/4 or less can get vehicle passes and we are pushing 250 burners.
I’m putting my prediction out there. It’s not propaganda, it’s my opinion, no-one ever said you have to agree with me or like it. Time will tell if this turns out to be a great idea, if it makes a difference, or if it’s just another cluster-fuck. Like I said at the end, I’d be happy to be proven wrong on this.
Since most of the road/traffic/pollution problems come from RVs, why not tax/ticket them? Early arrival ticket holders (builders/artists) should be able to bring their RVs for cheap (they come early and leave late) and the rest should pay $300-400 for their comfort… they don’t care and can afford it anyway
Amen. Have done it both ways, and doing the Burn in an RV is not doing the Burn.
I believe it is just a new challage and will force many people to adhere to the principles, mainly radical self-reliance. This idea will remove many of those who do not participate or who want everything setup for them as they arive. I know this idea will force my friends to band together and be creative. It’s going to force people to leave the “kitchen sink at home” and bring people to come together even more. I cant wait to see the creativity in the carvan, it will be a blast to get everyone to explore and aspect of the burn that has been lost. The adventure of getting there and leaving; it should be a pilgrimage and shared with your friends. We all should embrace it, find a bus and setup a camp with your friends and the burning family. Get out of your mansion on wheels and truly rough it for a week. Have faith in the community and step out of your comfort zone. I think it could end up being something truly wonderful! Thanks for reading, Josh aka Boone
Not sure how this will reduce RV’s as you’ve said. If anything it encourages them. You can fit much more gear and people in an rv.
Rvs are very limited in space, more people can get one, but limits the amount of stuff and how long a person or group can stay in the RV. My arugument is in no way flawless, but I think it will make more people rely on each other. Instead of 4 people each bringing there own RV. 4 people will be in one. Not everyone will be able to get a vehicle pass. So, 4 or more people will have to share a single car. Upon arrival they will have to setup more tents and shelters, rather than having everyone hide in the former abundance of RVs. Simply there are not enough vehicle passes and not enough room for everyone to hang out in it.
Rvs are very limited in space, more people can get one, but limits the amount of stuff and how long a person or group can stay in the RV. My arugument is in no way flawless, but I think it will make more people rely on each other. Instead of 4 people each bringing there own RV. 4 people will be in one. Not everyone will be able to get a vehicle pass. So, 4 or more people will have to share a single car. Upon arrival they will have to setup more tents and shelters, rather than having everyone hide in the former abundance of RVs. Simply there are not enough vehicle passes and not enough room for everyone to hang out in it.
I’m not sure I get the vehicle pass thing. Ok, maybe charge every vehicle an extra fee to cover the *costs* but to limit the vehicle passes will just screw with people and the logistical planning. It’s not like people are taking vehicles out there that don’t need to….are they? Everyone in every one of the camps I have been a part of has worked together to get all of us and all of our gear out there as efficiently as possible. I say ditch the pass limit and just make people pay extra for the vehicles they want to bring in. Are people going to park their cars in Gerlach and then have their camp-mate do laps to bring in everyone? Definitely more questions than answers here…..yikes…another doozy….but I do know that we as burners will figure this out and survive.
I agree with you. I don’t feel that people are careless about how many vehicles they bring. People and gear are usually stuffed to the gills. My wife and I had to drive alone in separate vehicles from SF at the last minute because all of my art car couldn’t be towed by one vehicle. If that was the case this year. And I had only one pass. I’d be screwed. There’s no fall back. Especially if you had to decide, way back in January, how many vehicles you were going to take. This is bumming me out.
Another effect I noticed when volunteering with Air Playa Info (McCarren Int’l) is people that come from afar travel with only a pack but have previously organized with a theme camp for the bulk of their equipment needs. Also noticing a large amount of real estate given over to Theme Camp placement. Do you think this is intentional?
Last comment. Finally just too fed up with the constant negativity. Babye