Michigan Trail Permit
- Thread starter uncle_ed
- Start date
POLARISDAN
New member
hahahahahahhahaah..just curious uncle ed is you saw the 7 page thread..its great fun..find it and enjoy
POLARISDAN
New member
its right under this one
slayinbucks
New member
I think this would be a bad idea to have weekend or daily permits. First the trails would lose that income from those who chose cheaper permits, I do not think we are going to want that to happen. They would either raise the rate on the annual and make the weekend permit near what the annual is now. Or they would keep the annual the same and be somewhere around $25 or $30 for a weekend, that way if you chose to come twice they would make a little more income to make up for the ones who came once. You look at places like New York and see how they handle it. I think $45 is super fair for all the trails that we have and the way they are maintained. Do I wish it was cheaper, for sure! But I think we would pay for it with less trail grooming.
Last edited:
Slayinbucks;
I should probably know better that comment on this topic due to my experience with my post a few days ago. I will say that I can understand your belief that people who normally buy a yearly permit will opt for a temporary one. It is my opinion and others that I ride with, that those who purchase yearly permits are those who may live in Michigan, or those who ride in Michigan for more than 1-2 days. From my situation alone, my friend brings his wife and 3 kids and 3 of his friends, with 7 sleds total (permit cost for this group=$315.00), another who brings his wife and son with 3 sleds ($135.00), and my group that brings 3 ($135.00). All stay in the Mercer area. Combined that is $585.00 for 2 days of riding max. None of these people mentioned purchase a yearly trail permit. Lets say they offer a 3 day permit for $15.00. Wouldn't $195.00 be better than zero? I know there are those that say if you can't afford the $45.00, stay at home, but that is a prime example of tunnel vision.
I should probably know better that comment on this topic due to my experience with my post a few days ago. I will say that I can understand your belief that people who normally buy a yearly permit will opt for a temporary one. It is my opinion and others that I ride with, that those who purchase yearly permits are those who may live in Michigan, or those who ride in Michigan for more than 1-2 days. From my situation alone, my friend brings his wife and 3 kids and 3 of his friends, with 7 sleds total (permit cost for this group=$315.00), another who brings his wife and son with 3 sleds ($135.00), and my group that brings 3 ($135.00). All stay in the Mercer area. Combined that is $585.00 for 2 days of riding max. None of these people mentioned purchase a yearly trail permit. Lets say they offer a 3 day permit for $15.00. Wouldn't $195.00 be better than zero? I know there are those that say if you can't afford the $45.00, stay at home, but that is a prime example of tunnel vision.
slayinbucks
New member
My thinking was the 3 day permit would not be as low as $15, my thought is it will be at minimum over half the cost of a yearly permit, look at the other places that do this. Look at Canada, buy annual for $280 or 1 week for $190, so if you happen to go twice you just paid $100 more (1 day permit being $55). They give you a break for only coming once, but if you come more than once, you will be paying more than a yearly permit. Believe me they would look at keeping the revenue the same as they pull in now, or more. They know how many people come from out of state, so I'm sure they can come up with some kind of way to keep it the same as now or bring in more money and still make people happy. I just simply believe that it will not work out in your favor as much as one would think. What if they said, ok we are going to do that, The weekend permit is now $45 and the annual is $75 would you be ok then? I personally do not want to open a new system of permits as it will probably lead to increases again. If you have people in your group that do not purchase permits but ride, shame on them, I do not want or believe in people coming here to sled whether they live here or not without buying permits, the groomers and all the other people that volunteer all their personal time do not deserve to be disrespected that way. $45 for each permit is how much it costs to operate our trails right now, we can't take away from that money and expect the same trails.
Once again, my statements are miscontrued and NEVER did I say we ride without permits. I, nor any of my friends ride in Michigan without permits and I find it insulting to be accused of such. In addition, we aren't "taking" money from anyone. As I stated, wouldn't $195.00 contributed to the trail maintenance be better than $0? It's a pretty simple concept actually. We are wanting to contibute money. We can "What if" things forever. I can't see how me spending $45.00 for 3, 3 day permits, versus $135.00 for 1-2 days of riding would not work out in my favor.
Correct me if I am wrong, but in WI if you have your sled registered in WI you don't need a trail permit? I'd be in favor have allowing people from out of state duel register their sleds in MI and their home state. Increase the MI sled registion fee and go to a out of state tag that has a 3 day pass option or a yearly option. I ride in both MI and WI. I register my selds in WI and buy a MI trail pass.
polarisrider1
New member
Agree. If a 3 day pass comes about I will bet it would be around $45 and seasonal permit will go to $60.
slayinbucks
New member
Yes it would work out in your favor if that was the case, and all of the annual riders would have an increase to cover the decrease in your permit. Again, I could never see a 3 day permit being $15. Lets use simple math since I do not know the figures of how much money is brought in for permits. Lets say we only have 1000 snowmobile permits sold each year, thats $45,000 of revenue and it costs $45,000 to maintain the trails as they are today. Lets use the above graphic as the amount of people who would opt for the weekend permit and your figure of $15.00. Now since 480 people are only spending $15.00 which comes to $7200 and the remaining annual permit holders bring in a revenue of $23,400. Now your new revenue is $30,600 with an operating loss of $14,400. So where are we going to come up with the $14,400 to keep the trails the same way as they are now, oh lets raise permits all together. If we make the weekend permit $35.00 and make the annual $55.00, then we can have a revenue of $45,400 and put the other $400 back into the trails and if the 1 trip guy decieds to go twice, we get an extra $20 for each one of those people. So we accomplished this through raising my annual permit to $55 and your permit to $35, I do not want an increase so you can have it cheaper, sorry. I sometimes only get to ride 1 time a year also and I still think $45 is a fair price for what we get out of it even if it is only 1 trip.
slayinbucks
New member
I agree!
I will try this one more time,it's like a old girl friend that keeps reappearing . It's all about dollars and cents.there seems to be a few ,or many that want to jump over the border from Wis, for a day or two of riding.Thats great,what are you willing to pay? It cost money to proses any permit. Not to mention, who is going to sell them? It's hard enough to find a permit now. If a vender sells them at 45$,they get a buck. If they take a credit card,that 45$ sale ,just cost them$.I think a lot of people forget that the UP is part of lower Mi. Not to many people looking for a day permit down that way.I just don't see the state gaining from a daily pass. I know,you are going to buy lunch and some gas.They want you to spend more. Do you see anyone lobbying for a daily permit for Wis.or Ind.,they both border Mi?Whats in it for the state of Mi?
polarisrider1
New member
A few don't get it. I suspect they never will.
According to previous posts, nothing, all trail pass money goes directly to the clubs. The less money in a politicans hands, the better. As far as who is going to sell them, I will take a wild guess, and say the same people that sell yearly passes. As to who is going to police them, I will take another wild guess and say the same officers that police the yearly permits. If we do buy lunch and gas, then the state of Michigan gets their money, everyone wins!