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2016 Trail Passes


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Well, does anybody want to take a guess on how much the 2016 Season Trail Passes will be? You would think that with the obvious downward trend of Americans coming to Canada, especially Quebec, that raising prices would not be the right thing to do. I was at places the beginning of February and was told we were the first Americans there. Feel bad for the business owners as to what is happening to them.

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Well at least we received about 17 cents on the dollar this year. Not that I would complain if the pass goes down or stays the same but it's still a fair price when you factor in the cost of a grooming machine and all it takes to maintain the trails.

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Well, does anybody want to take a guess on how much the 2016 Season Trail Passes will be? You would think that with the obvious downward trend of Americans coming to Canada, especially Quebec, that raising prices would not be the right thing to do. I was at places the beginning of February and was told we were the first Americans there. Feel bad for the business owners as to what is happening to them.

I am with you and certainly hope trail permits do not go up for next season. However if they do I will be a true snowmobiler and grumble, but will also make sure I buy an Early Permit! I do understand the cost of maintaining the trail systems we ride on, and have been around long enough to remember what it was like before it became as organized as it is today.

Are you a regular Quebec snowmobiler? I have been coming to PQ since 1998 and have seen the glory days and have seen the really tough years. The reason I ask if you are a regular sledder, is that I felt the number of Americans on the trails were up noticeably this year. Myself I thought it was due to the strong US dollar, that is good for Quebec snowmobiling.

I certainly hope the cost of the permit isn't the factor that prevents you from coming back to Quebec next season.

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I am with you and certainly hope trail permits do not go up for next season. However if they do I will be a true snowmobiler and grumble, but will also make sure I buy an Early Permit! I do understand the cost of maintaining the trail systems we ride on, and have been around long enough to remember what it was like before it became as organized as it is today.

Are you a regular Quebec snowmobiler? I have been coming to PQ since 1998 and have seen the glory days and have seen the really tough years. The reason I ask if you are a regular sledder, is that I felt the number of Americans on the trails were up noticeably this year. Myself I thought it was due to the strong US dollar, that is good for Quebec snowmobiling.

I certainly hope the cost of the permit isn't the factor that prevents you from coming back to Quebec next season.

Several tailwinds now for US sledders considering Canada.......currency exchange rates, cheaper gas regardless of currency, and an overall better economic outlook for the US economy (imo).

Hope it continues, but don't want too many US sledders heading north of the border.....at least while I'm there..... :rofl:

Edited by im4snow
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I certainly like that idea.. 4 days instead of 3..

It really wouldn't bother me if the cost of the permit went up. smclelan said it already.. the overall cost of the machines and maintaining the trails is not cheap.. If they were not maintained the way they are I'm sure a lot of us would not be riding in CA and we wouldn't even be talking about the trail pass permits... It's really a small price to pay to ride some of the best trails.

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I certainly like that idea.. 4 days instead of 3..

It really wouldn't bother me if the cost of the permit went up. smclelan said it already.. the overall cost of the machines and maintaining the trails is not cheap.. If they were not maintained the way they are I'm sure a lot of us would not be riding in CA and we wouldn't even be talking about the trail pass permits... It's really a small price to pay to ride some of the best trails.

This isn't the place for common sense. Take it to another topic. Enjoy Easter punk
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It would be nice to see it more inline with the pricing in Ontario. The $20 annual increase for the last few years does add up, don't get me wrong I do appreciate the awesome trail system and understand it cost. We ride in the Outaouais Region and the season isn't any longer then in Ottawa or surrounding areas.

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The price has been the same for the past two seasons. $300 before dec 9.

I believe there was an agreement to keep it the same with no increases for another year or two.

We shall see.

Regardless it's a small price to pay and where else you gonna find trails connected like these with services and the snow.

If 20 or 30 bucks more is the breaking point for you then maybe it's time to not ride sleds. Come on now.

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The price has been the same for the past two seasons. $300 before dec 9.

I believe there was an agreement to keep it the same with no increases for another year or two.

We shall see.

Regardless it's a small price to pay and where else you gonna find trails connected like these with services and the snow.

If 20 or 30 bucks more is the breaking point for you then maybe it's time to not ride sleds. Come on now.

The trail pass is the least expensive part of riding on the BEST trails on the planet !!!

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"Regardless it's a small price to pay and where else you gonna find trails connected like these with services and the snow.
If 20 or 30 bucks more is the breaking point for you then maybe it's time to not ride sleds. Come on now."

X1000

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Certainly worth it for anyone who honestly enjoys the sport and acknowleges the superiority of the Quebec trail network! Break it down however you want: by the number of days you ride a season - or by the number of miles you ride per season. You get allot for the $300 - and as has already been said it is one of the smaller costs of this sport.

What should concern all of us is if the number of trails pass buyers continues to drop off, the cost to maintain the network remains the same(or increases due to fuel, equipment costs, etc) and then has to be spread among those remaining. This could reach a point where the remaining users would have to pay ALLOT more to keep things the same. Alternately, trail miles will be cut - which was a topic last year - as they proposed 15% fewer kms of maintained trails.

I would be interested to see the FCMQ numbers on passes over the last few years to see what the trend is.

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Certainly worth it for anyone who honestly enjoys the sport and acknowleges the superiority of the Quebec trail network! Break it down however you want: by the number of days you ride a season - or by the number of miles you ride per season. You get allot for the $300 - and as has already been said it is one of the smaller costs of this sport.

What should concern all of us is if the number of trails pass buyers continues to drop off, the cost to maintain the network remains the same(or increases due to fuel, equipment costs, etc) and then has to be spread among those remaining. This could reach a point where the remaining users would have to pay ALLOT more to keep things the same. Alternately, trail miles will be cut - which was a topic last year - as they proposed 15% fewer kms of maintained trails.

I would be interested to see the FCMQ numbers on passes over the last few years to see what the trend is.

You have some good and valid points. My feeling is the different levels of government need to recognize/understand the economic impact of snowmobiling. The impact in Quebec along is $2.5 BILLION per year. A portion of those dollars are provincial and federal taxes that should be coming back to the FCMQ to help fund infrastructure projects (bridges, trail reroutes from loses of landowner permissions) and new or refurbished grooming equipment. There is some government help out there but it still does not recognize how big an impact this in to rural regions, in non typical tourist seasons. Unfortunately the volunteer base is not in the clubs there used to be to work on projects, reality is they have to hire people to do some of these things now. Business is tight no, and businesses that donated people, equipment and materials before, can not be a generous as in years gone by.

In short it can not be a user pay system that covers all the costs. Dollars need to come from all that benefit from the sport motels/hotels, gas stations, restaurants, dealerships, outfitters........

JMO

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You have some good and valid points. My feeling is the different levels of government need to recognize/understand the economic impact of snowmobiling. The impact in Quebec along is $2.5 BILLION per year. A portion of those dollars are provincial and federal taxes that should be coming back to the FCMQ to help fund infrastructure projects (bridges, trail reroutes from loses of landowner permissions) and new or refurbished grooming equipment. There is some government help out there but it still does not recognize how big an impact this in to rural regions, in non typical tourist seasons. Unfortunately the volunteer base is not in the clubs there used to be to work on projects, reality is they have to hire people to do some of these things now. Business is tight no, and businesses that donated people, equipment and materials before, can not be a generous as in years gone by.

In short it can not be a user pay system that covers all the costs. Dollars need to come from all that benefit from the sport motels/hotels, gas stations, restaurants, dealerships, outfitters........

JMO

Thanks for the insight Steven - and I agree that more funding should come from other sources. I don't know enough about how the Canadian Government views snowmobiling to know if additional funding for snowmobiling would be realistic but it makes sense when you point out the far reaching economic impact it has province-wide. I am sure it varies with the political winds similar to the states.

My worry remains about numbers since it seems everyone here has remarked that traffic seems to be down. If there aren't people riding, those funding sources you cite begin drying up so the costs to preserve the trail system again become the lynch pin of the system's continued existence.

Vermont is struggling to keep users in the sport and maintain their existing trail network too. The state government has been shown the economic impact of snowmobiling but it doesn't help us. Trail pass purchases have dropped by a shocking 46% over the course of the last 9-10 yrs. (I think pass prices have increased about 40%) Obviously the economy had an effect but there also doesn't seem to be the continuum of young riders entering, volunteering, and remaining to keep the sport going. Many of us have concluded that those that left the sport are likely either gone forever or at least gone until they reach another point in their lives when they have the resources to re-enter the sport. The costs of new machines, length of the riding season, available time to ride, and access to good riding all seem to be part of the equation.

We have some headwinds for sure -

JMO

Edited by vt_bluyamaha54
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