2016-10-17 GC Agenda - Att 1 to Item 7 - Electric Bus Trial Lease Agreement

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                11 OCTOBER 2016


The above structure provides for a joining fee of $19.95 for new members. This fee, which is
standard industry practice, will not be charged when existing members change membership
categories, nor will it be charged for VP holders who wish to shift to a membership at the
commencement of the new structure. The fee contributes to the administrative costs of signing up
and setting up a new membership and also acts as a small deterrent to people cancelling and
rejoining on a regular basis. Memberships are intended to provide financial reward to those who
use the facilities regularly and continuously throughout the year. As there is no minimum
commitment required on any direct debit membership category people could exploit this flexibility
without a joining fee in place. Finally, management has the ability to waive the fee should they feel
that individual circumstances warrant this action.

Within the current fees and charges schedule, management is delegated the flexibility to adjust
fees and charges to have the ability to negotiate with event organisers and promoters and
commercial and community hire requests. It is not the intention of the revised fees and charges
schedule to change this arrangement.


4.     Possible pressure points

Generally speaking, the revised fees will continue to provide patrons with opportunities to
participate at the centres for a very similar cost to what they incur now, with some fees decreasing
marginally and others increasing marginally. For patrons who use regularly, the revised
membership structure will provide great value access, in some cases up to $7.50 per week less
than the current cost.

The one category of fee which will incur a more significant increase is the 10 session concession
GF/aqua aerobics/circuit/squad/gym VP. This will increase from a current price of $88.50 to
$107.10. The reason for this change is that the current pricing represents a 26.25% discount to the
equivalent full price whereas under the proposed model, all 10 session VPs will receive a 10%
discount.

Currently there are approximately 100 holders of this pass at the NAC and 130 at NLC. For pass
holders who visit regularly, the cheaper and more flexible membership offerings will become an
attractive alternative, with the cost of a concession membership providing the same access just
$15.25 per week. Unfortunately our data doesn’t allow us to determine how many current pass
holders visit regularly enough to justify a conversion to a membership but our anecdotal sense is
that it will be a reasonable portion.

The next best alternative for those who aren’t attracted to a membership would be the purchase of
a concession rate 20 session VP (a new VP category). This would allow access at an average cost
of $10.12 per class, $1.27 higher than their current average cost of $8.85. It should be noted that
the cheapest similar offering from nearby competitors equates to an average per class cost of
$9.50, with several other competitors’ offerings being significantly higher than this.

Finally, everyone’s passes expire at different times and therefore we do not anticipate a large influx
of disgruntled customers when prices come into effect on 1 January 2017. The new pricing remains
competitive and in many cases provides better value for existing users. The reality of implementing
a new pricing model based on consistent application of discounts is that there will be a small
number of reasonably significant changes to fees which have previously been subject to very large
levels of discounting.

Previous Council Consideration

Nil.



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