More Butts, Fewer Seats! (x-post)

traffic jam
UGH.

Back when Black Rock City’s population would barely overwhelm an In ‘n’ Out drive-thru, let alone the two-lane highways leading to the Black Rock Desert, the Burning Man Rideshare board was just a handy way for people to catch a ride to the playa.

But with our burgeoning population — and hopes of burgeoning it yet more — ridesharing has become a necessity to ensure the long-term survival of the Burning Man event in Black Rock City (we say “in Black Rock City” because there are 60+ Burning Man events around the world … but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here). The environmental impact aside, the reality is our favorite two-laners to nowhere just can’t take the traffic. So the Rideshare board? Very important.

The board was getting seriously long in the tooth and creaky at the knees, so we sent in our crack tech team to beef, clean, and pretty it up, and then add flight sharing into the Black Rock City Airport (or any other airport for that matter … but there we go getting ahead of ourselves again) and other cool features to help you find the ideal seat for your butt.

Rideshare!
Rideshare!

OK so here’s the really cool part: we’re making our Rideshare board available to any Burning Man Regional event to manage their own carpooling efforts. That’s right, we’re taking our sustainability efforts global. Any of the 60+ Burning Man Regional events around the world will be able to facilitate carpooling and flight-sharing using this system (whether they do or not is up to them).

Wait, flight-sharing what? Yes, that’s right. If you’ve got an extra seat to share on your plane, we got that covered too — whichever airport you’re using.

Cool huh? OK so say it with us: More Butts, Fewer Seats!

Now … get in there, and find your ride.

NOTE: CROSS POST FROM THE VOICES OF BURNING MAN (ORIGINAL POST HERE)

In Conclusion

There is a said about the 2015 Spring Retreat and the general consensus is that it was a success. It was a success for the right reasons. It was a success because every single soul that went help make it what it was. This was a true community effort. We will wait and see what next year brings because people asked for it again. Groundswell was an excellent host and the perfect space for us.

Financially we did not bring in as much as we hoped, but it was not about making money. The funds from the event will go back to you: the community anyway. No one was expected to make money though we ended up paying some people for their volunteer work.

  • $8345.00 Revenue from Ticket Sales
  • $7211.00 Expenses*
  • $1133.00 For Queer Burner PR / Projects / Community Efforts*
    (*final numbers as of 6/3/2015 – updated)

Will be meeting with Kyle on 6/4 from Groundswell to talk a little about the past and future. Updates to come.