I've never used it

Agreed. That is just plain stupid. To make projections and assumptions from that kind of data is idiotic. Garbage in - garbage out.   We are a family of 5 riders - 0 use it or have ever used it I know of between 25-30 other riders - I can say with certainty - 2 have used it - but do not regularly      

I don’t know about safer trails!    

It seems very strange that 7% permit price increase is voted down and the trails are reduced by 10-15% or whatever the actual amount is.   If the permit price increase resulted in 5% or 10% fewer permit sales but could be seen to reduce traffic by 5-10% and negate some required grooming maybe the increase would serve a purpose?  In a perfect world      It would be interesting to see the permit sale projection numbers /studies for different permit prices.   A $300 permit would result in X sales vs a $250 permit vs a $200 permit.     I know it’s all based on estimates but it would be interesting to see the calculations.     One other thing the guy that based the projected trail groomer frequency for this year based on the app usage on cellphones last year should get a swift kick in the nuts!

Then we are doomed - end of story. The trail is the product - whether you like it or not. You're selling a permit to anyone who wants access to your product ( trails ). OFSC should have 100% control over what that price is - full stop. If they don't want it - then let each district figure out their own costs and allow them to sell a District passes rather than provincial ones. And yes, the OFSC can figure it out - people may not like the number, but that's what it is.  You should be budgeting for a grand winter - every winter - start to finish   Unless you are prepared to tie the sale of the permit to a minimum dedicated amount of volunteer hours - and not to be released until those are checked off and done by the purchaser, then you can forget about ever going back to where it was.   When they organized and let the MTO etc. into the room - it was pandora's box and you aren't going back now, not without bottoming out and ceasing to exist and starting all over again.