Sometimes one need to be lifted from one place of city to another, but there is night, no busses... and no one wants to stop to stop and lift you, because it's night and people are afraid to stop.

The solution could be special screen (similar to scoreboard or sign or whaever it is called in English), which would be seen by the drivers. People in the stop could push a button with the preferable direction or type the direction they want to go onto the screen. So if a person is going to the same direction, he could lift the person more effectively. Maybe that kind of system could work in big cities where there is little parking place for cars and therefore people use cars less. Maybe if people wouldn't go to work by one, less fuel would be consumed by cars and the air polution would be decreased a little.
-- Inyuki, Mar 18 2004

Massive scale hitch-hiking http://www.halfbake...cale_20hitch-hiking
Another HB's idea similar to this one. [Inyuki, Oct 04 2004]

(?) Casual Carpool http://www.ridenow.org/carpool/
[Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004]

Bike? Pretty girl? Pack? Pah! http://www.tony-hawks.com/ireland.php
Extreme hitchhiking. [AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 04 2005]

En Route http://www.nirbi.com
Pick up people on the way. [c, Oct 15 2005]

I don't see how it would make people feel more comfortable about letting a potential axe wielding maniac into their car, but it'd certainly make hitching a lot easier (did it a lot as a student, moons ago) if there were designated stops you could go to to try for a lift. They might get quite congested though - I'm thinking what the taxi ranks can be like at the end of a Saturday night...
-- saker, Mar 18 2004


The basic theme of your idea is absolutely baked in San Francisco, called the "casual carpool". In surrounding cities there are places where people or cars stand in line (depending on which there is an abundance of at the time). Cars swing by and pick up a few people, get to drive in the carpool lane, and drop them off at the designated spot in SF. The process is repeated for the return trip home.

My wife shaved about an hour off her commute every day doing this.
-- Worldgineer, Mar 18 2004


+ college flashback
-- dpsyplc, Mar 18 2004


Also baked in the Washington DC area where it is called slugging.
-- GenYus, Mar 18 2004


Ah, hitchhiking.

I spent the years between 14 and twenty-couple doing this for travel and entertainment.

I drove my first forty foot motorhome for a man tired of driving - we picked up hordes of hitchhikers and traveled them in comfort.

I've hitched by myself, with a pack, with a pretty girl, and with a bicycle. Know which is the best way to get rides ?
-- normzone, Mar 18 2004


Make it known that there's an abundance of security cameras at the stop, taking mug shots of hitchers and license plate of the cars, and you've got yourself a winner.
-- BunsenHoneydew, Mar 19 2004


Okay, the suspense is killing me, so I'll talk.

With a bicycle. With a girl is good, but anybody can pick you up.

When you hitch with a bicycle, people with larger vehicles make that mental connection that you need someone like them to help you out. Seeing you let ten cars go past and put your thumb out for them conveys that feeling.

I gypsied the California coastline from San Diego to San Fransisco and back that way....great fun. Rode about a quarter of it - all the nice places and downhills, and some of the torturous stuff. Got clocked at 65mph on my old waterpipe ten-speed.

I think I lack both the youth and patience to do that now.......
-- normzone, Mar 19 2004


<Stephen Wright voice> I like to pick up hitchhikers. When they get in the car I say, "Put on your seat belt. I want to try something. I saw it once in a cartoon, but I think I can do it." </Stephen Wright voice>
-- phlogiston, Mar 19 2004


What cartoon was it that you were watching??[phlog]
-- froglet, Mar 02 2005


ASAP i'll post a link, but i've learned in my german lessons that this is done is Germany. So as far as I know this is baked.
-- NeoPiter, Mar 03 2005


..and I can confirm it. It's called the Mitfahrzentral. Drivers are registered with the service and inform the call centre when they are making a journey (usually a longish one). Car-less plebs then call up to find out if anyone's going the way they want to and get a phone number to call and arrange pick-up time and place.

All the drivers are registered, so you're pretty safe, or safer than a regular hitcher, but you have to pay a share of the petrol costs.
-- squeak, Mar 04 2005


That is damn efficient. I'm impressed.
-- Germanicus, Oct 15 2005


Also you could add a security camera to the stops so when person is picked up the camera would run a footage which would be kept srored certain period.
-- Pellepeloton, Oct 08 2006



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