We expected and have appreciated the feedback we have received on Early Riser parking. There are definitely green benefits to this plan, but our primary reason for doing this is to give our guests a chance to park and ski and ride at The Basin on busier days. This is a forward thinking plan and I am providing the information below to help give a more in depth understanding of parking at A-Basin.
-Beginning December 31, on Saturdays, Sundays, Martin Luther King Day and Presidents Day, from 6 AM to Noon, Early Riser Lot will be free for vehicles with 3 or more people. Other vehicles will pay $20 to park there. After listening to feedback, we changed the end time from 2 PM to Noon.
-Addressing busy days, our objective remains to meet, but not exceed, our comfortable carryng capacity of 4,140 skiers per day. We were very successful at this last year only exceeding ccc three times, including on a 16" powder day May 21.
-We have taken three major steps to control visits. We have limited the number of unrestricted season passes that we sell (we are sold out this season). We limit the number of tickets we sell each day. We joined the Ikon Pass because there are restrictions to how much it can be used.
-Over the years we have continued to expand our on mountain facilities, such as Lenawee Express, The Beavers, Steilhang Hut and the Il Rifugio remodel/expansion, to address peak visitation periods and keep the quality of experience high. Our mountain ski experience continues to be tremendous.
-Over the COVID years carpooling and Summit Stage ridership declined putting pressure on our parking on the busiest days. Looking forward and to combat this developing problem, we are implementing The Early Riser Parking Plan.
-High Noon and Last Chance Lots remain free at all times.
-Early Riser Lot remains free Monday-Friday except MLK and President's Day.
-The driving force behind this plan continues to be to provide incredible experiences for our guests without exceeding our ccc.
-We think incentivizing carpooling is the best way to achieve that goal. A few years ago when we had a similar, but smaller version of this plan in the Early Riser Lot, more than 75% of our guests were carpoolers. We hope the carpooler number is higher than 75% this time. On the surface, this may appear like a money grab. It is not. We would be far better off with a nearly full lot of carpoolers versus the revenue generated by pay parking.
The themes I have discussed have been consistent with A-Basin for several years. We have a laser focus on creating an incredible ski experience. That experience includes access to parking, providing an extraordinary mountain with an appropriate lift system and offering restaurants and facilities to match.
Again, this plan is forward thinking and will help us achieve our goal of providing the very best ski expereience.
