RFID lift ticket technology-

[Marc]

Well I went up to Mount Snow on Saturday, a day trip cut short by the food poisoning of one of our trip members, but did manage a few runs before we left.

The crowds were staggering. They had an issue with their Canyon Express Quad which didn't help, but they were also scanning the barcodes on everyone's pass, every time.


Does anyone know of any good reason why any or more resorts have not gone to RFID tags for season pass holders at the least? The technology is certainly cheap enough to include day tickets as well. Does anyone know of any resorts that have done this, or any that have considered it?

 

[SkiDog]

$$$$$$$$

its coming though..I think I started a thread on this under MISC..try a search..

M

 

[Marc]

http://forums.alpinezone.com/viewtopic.php?t=6099&highlight=rfid


Money is really no excuse at this point. Look at what UPS and Fedex do with them.

The most inexpensive ones (no battery required), from what I've read have a range of about 15 feet. Plenty for lifts. It can't come soon enough. Bar codes = teh suck!!1

 

[SkiDork]

how would this work? Is that the small plastic thing I see attached to boxes these days? ABout an inch by 1/8"

Would it somehow point out who the offender (illegal ticket) was? WOuld each person get scanned as they passed a certain point, or would it do bulk scanning in a particular area?

 

[SkiDog]

http://forums.alpinezone.com/viewtopic.php?t=6099&highlight=rfid


Money is really no excuse at this point. Look at what UPS and Fedex do with them.

The most inexpensive ones (no battery required), from what I've read have a range of about 15 feet. Plenty for lifts. It can't come soon enough. Bar codes = teh suck!!1

Using FedEx and or UPS as a comaprision to a ski resort is totally comparing apples to oranges..I think FedEx profits are far greater, and they also have a lot more to lose than ANY ski resort...thats why they use them...and are more willing to invest in the technology. Until ski resorts can find a "true" value in those devices, they won't invest penny one...personally if they are going to dump that kinda cash into a resort I prefer putting it ON THE HILL in the form of trails than a devices that can "track" me around the resort.

M

 

[RossiSkier]

I have an armband that bends my pass. The scan takes twice as long 'cause they can get it to beep for me most of the time. All in all though the lines went pretty quick at Mount Snow. There were staggering crowds because it was youth day. You saw tons of lift tickets with "YD" on them.

 

[dmo]

Solitude, UT has a brilliant system, and it's being updated to boot. All tickets, whether it's a season pass or a day ticket, are given a card. You place the card in your lefthand pants pocket and ski up to a turnstile at the liftline. The card has some sort of a chip in it, which is automatically read, unlocking the turnstile and allowing you to pass through. It's a much more smooth system (although Solitude does get far fewer visitors than many of the big EC resorts) and allows for less lifties.

The other neat thing is that allows for statistic reporting (season pass holders can check total lift rides, total vert, etc) and unique ticketing options. For instance, they have something called the "Ride" ticket, which is good for increments of 10 lift rides. You can buy it, use it all in one day and it will become unlimited (for that day only) or split the 10 rides up however you want. Two one day, three next week, etc.

I was at Killy on Saturday and Mount Snow on Sunday. K Mart lifties didn't bother to scan my pass most of the time, while the Mount Snow lifties were adamant about it. I wonder if there is some sort of a quota of scanned passes that they need to meet. It was super annoying on the first weekend of this month when we could get stopped by the Mount Snow lifties to scan and the people with day passes were skating right on by.

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

I was at a trade show at Bretton Woods back in September. I don;t recall the company's name but they were there to sell the RFID technology to resorts.

Even if it's not practical for the day tickets, I would think it would be for season's passes. I find the barcode scanning annoying. (I'll guess I'm not alone.)

 

[JohnL]

Solitude, UT has a brilliant system, and it's being updated to boot. All tickets, whether it's a season pass or a day ticket, are given a card. You place the card in your lefthand pants pocket and ski up to a turnstile at the liftline. The card has some sort of a chip in it, which is automatically read, unlocking the turnstile and allowing you to pass through. It's a much more smooth system (although Solitude does get far fewer visitors than many of the big EC resorts) and allows for less lifties.

Ssssshhhhhhh on Solitude!

I've found I often have to contort myself to get the durn cards to read and the gates to turn. Mebbe because the person who hard the card ahead of me used it as an ice scraper...