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56 minutes ago, Shebeen said:ja totally not fingerpointing at bikepark. They very cool people. the fact that they found and offer solution to SANparks stoopid annual permit system makes them lekker.
I think they actually comp your parking, maybe other vendors do and then uitsig comp that back.
it's uitsig with their big security and access setup that charges a small fee (presumably to keep riff raff out). It's more a hack trying to look after a ticket and pay the nominal fee when all you're doing is visiting a place (and probably dropping ca$h). I have seen people stuck at the exit gate who have lost/forgotten their ticket and security just waves them through after a chit chat!
That would be me, I just roll up to the exit and wait to be let out.
It may be because I am in and out quickly most of the time that I seem to get away with it.
I think the paid/gated parking became a thing there because people were just parking there and not using any of the facilities and a couple of years back the restaurant there was held up when the staff arrived one morning.
18 hours ago, Shebeen said:totally.
but you also need to get there chop chop as they stick you for R20 to go spend money on their farm theses days.
(wonder when people will start parking outside) and crossing the road rather
Pretty sure the 'they' there is not the bikepark, I would be very surprised if any of the parking charge went to them.
54 minutes ago, LazyTrailRider said:Here I am casually browsing, knowing that I'm heading to Tokai early tomorrow morning...
Just to add to the anxiety you can add two Puff Adders spotted on Snake Eyes a few days back, one on the big right hand corner and the other handily placed at exactly where you land if you do the rock drop near the exit.
Lot's of others spotted mostly on the trails above level three.
Not a route but the Bikepark at Uitsig would be fun for him.
5 minutes ago, ChrisF said:
Semantics .... devil IS in the details ....
This is not a matter of they "want", but of what their employer "allows" them to do.
Earning 2c off on the side while getting a Government pay check is seriously frowned upon - at least for this low level staff (we all know these rules are ignored at many other levels ... different topic for a different thread)
As an example - Augrabies SAN Park used R1,5M worth of diesel during load shedding, but they only have R0,5M for this budget ..... they MUST run the genny to keep clients happy, but now have mountains of paperwork due to this. The fact that this may be one of the "profitable" parks is besides the point. Clients money goes straight to the "SAN Parks pot" .... It is the system within which these staff must operate. And I KNOW the staff at this park is SUPERB in their duties !!!
Spare a thought for those staff that go out of their way to do their job properly .... those that KNOW there are better ways, but are bound by a set of rules from above ....
O-well .... none of this helps the local TMNP trails .... but just maybe a few more will see the context @Jewbacca have been posting about time and again. By far the most of the local staff are NOT the "problem".
I'm not sure why you are quoting me here.
Go back to my earlier posts where I specifically state the problem comes from above the heads of the local staff, who as I said for the most part do their best in trying circumstances.
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13 hours ago, Shebeen said:FYI. highlights from the financials 2021/2022 I mentioned yesterday
Revenue = R1.7b [0.9b 20/21]
Gov grant = R0.9b [1.5b 20/21]
Expenditure = R2.8b [2.5b]*
net loss of R200m
I don't expect Sanparks to make money, it's a world class national asset that is measured on other factors. every tourist who comes here specifically because Kruger is a bucketlist item will spend ~30x that money elsewhere in the country during the trip. But it does need to be run like a business. Having a no-value-add tenderpreneur skimming off the cape point entrance revenue is a perfect case in point.
*employee costs are R1.3b with 4000 directly employed. @R325k p.a. seems more lucrative to work at eskom but the view is not as nice at megawatt park.
Specific to the highlighted part of your post - in discussions with park management it appears that they try to bring in external contractors or put in place an outside company for any role that they do not see as part of their core skill set. The argument being that they want to concentrate on their core tasks and not spend time and money learning how to run a restaurant for instance.
As far as I am aware the company with the concession pays a rental to parks rather than parks paying them.
Whether this is a good thing or not is open to debate.
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18 hours ago, Anthem24 said:TMNP is hardly a cash cow! Of course the busy places like Cape Point (and Kruger) have to cross-subsidise national parks that have great conservation value but can't possibly pay for themselves.
I think most people have no objection to paying -- we buy day permits when we ride in Tygerberg or the winelands -- but we don't ask any northern suburbs people to join us on rides at Deer Park etc because there's no way they can buy a day permit. TMNP really could make it easier and help everyone stay 'legal' and rake in more money, even if they're not going to put it back into trail maintenance.
TMNP has more than enough self generated revenue to fund itself properly, the fact that the revenue does not get sufficiently reinvested into the park is what leads to the poor condition of much of the infrastructure.
Using that revenue elsewhere pretty much points to it being a cash cow.
That said maybe they are starting to realise it is a problem - https://www.news24.com/news24/community-newspaper/peoples-post/r36-million-set-aside-to-address-decay-in-table-mountain-national-park-20230620
1 hour ago, Jewbacca said:Dunno... I've been running on Table Mountain for decades and I continually see rangers. Either in bakkies or patrolling the common access/egress points.
@Headshot I'm not batting for anyone. I just don't think that they care about MTB mountain users as much as MTB mountain users think they should.
I don't think WE (I include myself) are a particularly important part of the bigger picture.
I'm ok with that
It's not just mountain bikers feeling ignored or pushed out, there are quite a few user groups up in arms pretty much all the time.
Someone a while back called TMNP a cash cow and they have a reasonable point when Cape Point alone brings in hundreds of millions each year but user groups (be they MTB, horse riders, hikers or whatever) as often as not end up with the responsibility of maintaining or making safe large chunks of the facility.
We are talking about a group who try not to drive at the end of the month because their fuel budget is too small (and yes I have personal experience of that). What we do tend to miss is that as often as not the local management are generally decent people who do their best to do a good job in circumstances beyond their control thanks to decisions made way above them in Pretoria. They do, however, have quite the ability to frustrate when you try and engage with them. For example when chasing them about the activity card revenue being used for trail upgrades I was told that it was essential to their operation but in a separate conversation when I pointed out that MTB earned them a lot through activity card sales I was told it is an insignificant portion of their budget... You can't win.
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2 hours ago, Hairy said:For my education, what is a "bark stripper" please?
Basically exactly what it sounds like, stripping bark from an otherwise healthy tree mainly for use in traditional remedies. It often means the targeted tree dies and is quite a big issue in Cape Town.
9 hours ago, Anthem24 said:And if you happen to lose your activity card and somebody hands it in at the Tokai boom, they will stick it in the window of the booth, but they won't call or e-mail to let you know it's there, despite making you fill in all those details on the application form.
There is no communication between the booth and the office that issues the card a km up the road. I was given all sorts of excuses about them being in different sections when I pointed this out a month or two ago, and suggested they up their service delivery game.
Different sections? Oh good grief...
Same section, different department which as far as I can tell means they are under some sort of legal obligation not to talk to each other.
Or they can't be arsed.
I know where I would place my bet.
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1 hour ago, Zebra said:Can you prove this? Not doubting you, just keen to know your source(s)?
Cheers
Chris
Go through the Tokaimtb accounts here - https://tokaimtb.com/tokaimtb-admin/
You will not find a cent from parks. Every bit of work on those trails (and in some cases jeep tracks too) is paid for by memberships, donations and trail sponsors.
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19 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:I don't wish financial ruin on anyone.
Without revisiting the debate, I hope BOTH the officials involved and Nic were educated on how to behave in an appropriate manner.
Both parties behaved like idiots
This.
No excuses for hurting someone but also failing to comply with a lawful instruction is just asking for trouble.
1 hour ago, Kom said:I think I get PTSD just thinking about that video. I hope the SAN parks official was sacked.
No he wasn't, SANParks looked into the whole saga and the outcome was he was reinstated.
I don't know how they reached that decision but can only guess that they must have been pretty confident in their position to do so.
There was an attempted bikejacking near Peddlers on the Bend section of the greenbelt yesterday at roughly 07.45hrs.
Luckily it sounds like the thieves were the reincarnation of the three stooges and it ended up with the bike recovered and two of them arrested.
I wasn't there so this isn't a first hand account but but what transpired was roughly - Female cyclist was cornered when a car drove straight at her down the dirt road that passes the stables. Three pieces of human excrement got out and one grabbed her bike and tried to ride off. It was an ebike and it wasn't charged... He was going nowhere slowly at this point, and from this point on their elaborate plan began to unravel somewhat.
The rider screamed her lungs out and POS 2 & 3 promptly jumped back in their car only to stall it. The car then refused to start so they panicked and got out. At this point another rider grabbed the car keys.
Around this point the guy on the bike was discovering just how heavy an uncharged ebike was and gave up trying to ride it away and attempted to hide it in a hedge, which he was apparently too weak to manage so he gave up and ran away.
In the meantime the cops and security had arrived and they found and arrested the two that abandoned the car. The bike was returned to the rider and by all accounts she is completely fine.
A win for the good guys for once.
On 1/13/2023 at 10:34 AM, guidodg said:sorry but it IS idiotic that I must pay to run but not to ride...even the employees at the gate agreed..
Really?
Just about every section of the park is free for runners, with one or two exceptions, not one section is free for cycling.
Idiotic is cyclists having to pay in all the park when other user groups are allowed free access.
And it's not like the funds raised go towards improving the trails or mitigating any impact cycling has on the environment.
2 minutes ago, ChrisF said:Something worth considering, noting some of the previous replies.
ER24 and similar ambulance services only work when the patient can be reached by an ordinary vehicle.
As soon as the patient is on a trail and must be "recovered" to the nearest road, then it is best to contact Wilderness Search and Rescue.
Yes and no. Sort of.
In Tokai they take their vehicle to the trailhead and are met by Tokaimtb volunteers who take the paramedics to the scene of the accident. The paramedics then make a call as to the best way to remove the patient (this is often just a case of travelling down with Tokaimtb but has led to 4x4 recovery vehicles being brought in once or twice and on the odd occasion a helicopter is called in).
So far this has worked well and improves response times greatly.
On 1/8/2023 at 12:22 PM, Eddy Gordo said:I dont know of any trails where you get medical assistance or recovered. You are left on your own. It is handy to have er24 number.
Even 4x4 courses do not have recovery vehicles on hand if you get stuck.
Tokaimtb.
As a small sample - since 20th December four injured riders have been recovered and assisted after calling the emergency number (0870 590 000).
Last year around forty riders were assisted.
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Try - https://www.eselfontein.co.za/
May be as close as you will get to what you are looking for.
12 hours ago, porqui said:Should you be riding on your own ???
If you do keep this number handy in case of a fall or emergency
- 0714244712
(I do !!)
That number has changed to 087 133 1438 since Euphoria Telkom offered to sponsor the emergency call costs.
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17 hours ago, superSee said:Hey all, is the Tokai mtb trail area safe for a solo ride on weekday mornings? Between 8-10:30 am ish.
Just checking what the vibes are like out there...
Thanks!
The simple answer is yes it should be okay, there are lots of lone riders around during the day.
The biggest danger is possibly crashing when alone.
Tokaimtb has an emergency number to call if you have any problems or see something that worries you - 087 133 1438 - and help is normally only a few minutes away.
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On 2/27/2022 at 7:35 PM, Goosebay said:I would like to hear from trail builders. Tokai and most of Stellenbosch's trails are blessed with clay. We are not, and you can see an e-bike's damage even after one or two have passed through. After December's holiday funriders on ebikes I would be happy not to ever see one again. Alas there are now one or two resident here.
Would it be an idea to charge e-bikers an additional levy if at all practical?
Tokai isn't really blessed with clay, it's mostly sandy soil. There are one or two bands of clay and any that ends up as run off or clogging drainage on the jeep track gets gathered up and used to line the trails in high wear areas.
Areas of trail that take a lot of strain are mostly rock lined or a combination of rock and clay is used.
I honestly can't say that e-bikes have added to the wear and tear in any significant way,
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On 6/26/2021 at 8:36 AM, AdventureAndy said:I’m going to weigh in here. This is only my second ever post on bikehub. The first being a thread I started this morning asking for input on a new bike purchase (cycling related)
I have been aware of the hub for years. Have even bought a few things advertised in the classifieds before, and have gotten some good info from time to time on the threads, when researching an issue.
but I finally decided to join when I saw the announcement of NCR threads being removed. Well done to the admin team for this. The internet is huge, and full of echo chambers and notice boards to go and discuss any topic of your choice. You can even choose platforms based on your own confirmation bias, to be sure 99% of everyone there agrees with you.
I stayed away from joining this forum previously, because there seemed to be a massive amount of other stuff not cycling related being discussed ad nauseam here. More so, it seemed to be the same small handful of people keeping these threads going forever and ever, creating a lot of noise and clutter, that one has to sift through to get to any actual good cycling content.
those same members seem to also be the ones that bring constant negativity into the actual cycling threads, either with divisive opinions, or with their very high and mighty attitudes. I can only imagine this decision will by default also result in a natural cleaning up of the cycling related threads.
I hope I’m right. If not, I’m fortunately not overly invested in this. I decided to give the hub a try now that they are focusing on cycling again, and if it doesn’t work out, I will Still enjoy riding my bike just as much as before…
What a strange post, you couldn't find the cycling related posts because all the off topic posts in a completely separate area of the site got in the way?
What a weird little post.
49 minutes ago, IceCreamMan said:So is that where the discussion will go about things like Israels resurgence of cases despite level of vaccination, Hancocks infidelities , Mkhizes dismissal, the now mooted booster shots needed which was not foreseen after thorough testing, recent evidence of mask inefficiency, Bidens now plan to fund the police even more , Harris and her aim to turn back the refugees, USA troop withdrawals from Afganistanetc etc
And where are the ous washing all that egg off their faces?
(satire for those in doubt, cant find comic sans)
????
PS: Sweden for the win.
And it's baiting like this that is the reason we no longer have a place to discuss these things here.
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Cape Town danger areas
in Cycling Safety
Posted