There's been some discussion on facebook around the merits of charging money to attend bus rallies and running days - I'm wondering what opinion is on here.
There seems to be two main camps on the issue:
- Free events attract new people to the hobby and in turn promote further vehicle preservation
There's a real concern that charging entry to a bus rally would vastly reduce visitor numbers to the point where it wouldn't be worth running the events at all. Additionally the added cost is likely to put of 'marginal' enthusiasts leaving only the dedicated few same people traipsing to the same events with the same people to see the same vehicles. This alone could lead to the decline of the hobby. This would also extend to family visitors who contribute massively to visitor numbers at many who enjoy a low-cost day out. Though many enthusiasts may see small children getting in the way of their photos an annoyance; without them it's likely commercial operators such as ANE & GNE would cease to send vehicles as there would be no potential customers to promote to. After all, there's no point showing off your new bus to enthusiasts who already know all about it!Many bus enthusiasts have cited the friendly and inclusive atmosphere of the scene they experienced as a youngster as the reason they continued their hobby onto bus ownership and preservation. If exclusion via cost begins it could be argues that many vehicles will be lost to the scrap pile in the future.
- It is rude & ungrateful to not contribute to the running costs of a vehicle when an owner offers rides on it
The first argument here is the most obvious. A preserved bus owner has already spend £000s on restoration and ongoing costs to keep their vehicle before they've but £150 of diesel in it to bring it to a running day. And certainly many owners are not overly wealthy individuals; just people with a passion and desire to keep vehicles special to them going. To open that hard work up to the public who could easily damage your well preserved bus and then receive a small donation from less than half of those on board will be infuriating. It would be understandable if an owner then decided not to enter their vehicle for running any more; leaving their bus as a static exhibit only. There would be still many enthusiasts who are able to appreciate a bus from looking at it but it would still not be the same as being able to board and hear it run. Again, this could lead to less interest and the increased likelihood of the bus event being pulled altogether. This would certainly be the case for running-based events such as the 500 group's day.
The above is a summary of the arguments I've seen rather than my own opinion, which is very much that passengers should offer a donation to the owner of a preserved bus if it's being ran but an entry fee in addition to a donation to an event may kill it.
A way forward could be charging a fee for a programme or similar and only those in possession of one may use the running services.
As an example: ACME bus group holds an event, any bus from any group may enter to run. At rally control people may purchase one-day membership for £4 adult, £2 child, £8 family. Only members may ride buses running shuttles that day. Those who have not purchased membership are welcome to be at the event, taking photos and exploring static exhibits. The money raised by the membership subscriptions that day are then divided into an equal amount per vehicle per run operated and donated to the individuals who own each bus. As long as the amount donated didn't outweigh the cost the owner has outlaid in bringing the vehicle to the event, then this would still satisfy the 'not for hire or reward' clause required by the insurance of many preserved buses.
What does everybody think?
