If you are facing ending up in the Reno-Sparks area without a ride to the playa, PLEASE READ CLOSELY the details below and pass the word on:

Building upon the success of prior Rideshare bases here in our area, for 2008 there are four Rideshare locations in the Reno-Sparks area to seek and hook up or offer a ride to the playa.

Whole Foods Market and three Save Marts (formerly Albertsons). Whole Foods is right next to US395 in the southern stretch of Reno, two of the Save Marts straddle the west and east parts of the region next to I-80, and the other Save Mart is nearest to the Reno-Tahoe International Airport:

Here are the locations:

Whole Foods Market (formerly known as Wild Oats and at new location)
6139 South Virginia St - 775-852-8023
Largest health food store in the region.

www.google.com/maps

Save Mart Supermarket
525 Keystone Avenue, 775-786-2150
Most shopped business in Reno by burners travelling through on their way to the playa -- right next to I-80, west-Reno

www.google.com/maps

Save Mart Supermarket
195 West Plumb Lane, 775-786-0138
Closest location to the Reno-Tahoe International Airport

www.google.com/maps

Save Mart Supermarket
565 East Prater Way, 775-359-9450
Near I-80 -- very popular supermarket among burners on their way to the playa -- east-Sparks

www.google.com/maps

Generally what we are looking at is the fact that A LOT of people shop at these locations, and that the Save Marts and Whole Foods are more than happy to have burners in need of a ride to await and find a ride in their parking lots. And of these four, the Save Mart on Keystone Avenue and Whole Foods Market are probably going to be the busiest.

Yes, this is entrusting your way to the massive burner migratory patterns to the playa ~

If you are flying in to the Reno Airport, here is some further information:

Nearly everyone flying in to Reno with a destination to Black Rock City will either be renting a car from the airport, getting picked up by others according to a prior arrangement, taking one of the two bio buses (burncleanproject.org and biotour.org) to the playa, or finding their way to one of the four rideshare locations to hook up a ride.

Unfortunately, as of this year there are no direct shuttles from the airport to any of the four rideshare locations. This is something we are looking at for next year, though.

There will be an Air Playa Info table at the airport hosted by Burning Man for burners to get information. It is also therefore going to be a good place to meet other burners -- some of whom are renting a car and perhaps can take you along with them to the playa, or perhaps get you to one of the rideshare locations -- or perhaps to meet others with one can then perhaps carpool together for a taxi to get to one of the rideshare locations.

But please remember that the airport is NOT as good of a place to hook up a ride, as nearly everyone travelling through Reno who will have the space for you will NOT be stopping at the airport. You may be fortunate in finding someone in short order that will give you a ride, but you may otherwise end up waiting around indefinitely at the airport for one, when you could get one rather quickly at one of the rideshare locations.

If you have the money, a taxi ride to the nearest rideshare location at the Plumb Lane Save Mart should not be too expensive -- probably around $10. The next nearest location, Whole Foods, probably would cost around $12 (make sure you tell the driver that you want to get to Whole Foods via US395, though). A taxi to the Keystone or Prater Save Marts should be around $13.

There is also the local bus system, with a bus operating from the airport every half hour, but you'll then need to transfer downtown to another bus to get to any of the four rideshare locations (although the downtown transfer station is nearest to the Keystone Save Mart).

www.rtcwashoe.com/

__________

Among other things, the Save Mart supermarkets will also be hosting Kiwanis Bikes (at Keystone) and Black Rock Bicycles (at all 3 locations) selling used (Kiwanis) and new bikes in the parking lots, in case you need a bike.

Kiwanis Bike Project -- www.kiwanisbikes.org/

Black Rock Bicycles -- blackrockbicycles.com/

And Whole Foods will be having something like a first-of-its-kind playa-bike exchange.

Finally, the Save Mart supermarkets and Whole Foods Market will be operating free drive-thru recycling centers for both during and after the event. AND....garbage disposal will also be available at all of these locations!