threemonkeys

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This is interesting. The local city council is trialling "hitching posts" in my area. These are signs that say either "Hutt CBD" or "Wellington CBD". The idea that if you stand beside one and if somebody in a car comes by they know you are headed for that destination and can stop and offer you a lift. The signs are beside bus stops so that if nobody stops you are able to catch the next bus that comes along. It is a kind of on the fly car pooling system.

I like the idea - for a nice safe pair of suburbs like Maungaraki & Normandale with a lousy bus service it just could work. I suspect the council sees it as a cheaper alternative to improving the buses. The current infrequent service goes to Petone station so you have another bus or train to get to those popular CBD destinations. Of course you will still have to take the bus home.

Has anybody come across anything like this before? The council claim "a world first", but I rather doubt that.

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wait, so after hearing all my life not to hitchhike cause the world is a scary, unsafe place, they want to encourage people to... hitchhike?

I have to say that safety was the first thing that came to my mind. I quote from the Q&A in the pamphlet that arrived in my mailbox today:

q. Is it safe?
a. Maungaraki has a very low crime rate. However, sensible precautions are recommended, such as keeping a mobile phone handy and informing others that you plan to use the Hitch & Ride system.

The world may be a scary, unsafe place but I'm not sure that Maungaraki is. You would hope that people use good common sense. The pamphlet also explicitly states that "if you aren't happy with your ride offer, politely decline...".

are you going to try it?

I usually drive (bus service sucks remember). If I see people by the appropriate sign I think I will offer them a lift - I like to meet new people.

you *must* blog when you do this!

Roger wilco.

The bus/taxi system from Johannesburg to Soweto and back. There's a whole system of hand signals that the pedestrians use to show which part of the township is that they're planning on going to. When a bus/taxi happens along that isn't already crammed to bursting full of folk, it stops and picks the pedestrian up. Nifty, in a incredibly-short-of-resources way.

Yes, that sounds, sort of, the same thing. Interesting given the violent crime rate in jo'burg/soweto but then I guess it is this or nothing.

It reminds me a bit of the "every car is effectively a taxi" system that operates in Moscow.

"and informing others that you plan to use the Hitch & Ride system."
Which will mean what? After you haven't been seen for a couple of days, people can assume that they really ought to start looking for you? Won't they do that anyway?

Um, yeah. Hitching is one of those things I've been told not to do my whole life, right up there with walking in parks by myself in the middle of the night. It feels weird to have a city council suddenly saying "Go for it".

Y'know, nobody has ever told me to not hitchhike. You can probably guess why. There is a whole "risk group" vulnerability issue in there. An issue I bet the council is not willing to articulate explicitly because it is an age & gender issue. The thing is, for mainly economic reasons, this group (I'm talking young women obviously) along with the elderly are the most likely to not have a car and have no option but to use public transport/hitch.

It would be interesting to see what type of feedback the council is receiving on this - they included a feedback email address on the pamphlet.

Um, just to clarify - the risk group vulnerability issue I'm referring to is the issue that these groups have been told to or have learned to be careful in "stranger" situations much more than other groups and who are less likely to use a hitching system.

There is a more general and much bigger social issue of groups which are disproportionate victims of violent crime which does feed into the above issue.

Once when I was at school, a guy came in to teach us basic self defense. To start off with, he pointed out all the people in the class that he thought looked like victims. I was one of them. (As well as ways to hit people, he was talking about things like body language and whatnot to discourage attacks in the first place.) Being short and female has its disadvantages. If I lived where you do, I'd be much happier about the council spending its dosh on a better bus service.

If I lived where you do, I'd be much happier about the council spending its dosh on a better bus service.

I bet this costs less than more buses, which I suspect is the reason it got approved. I should say that there are some very narrow streets up here and so the possible bus routes are rather constrained, but frequency could be improved.

Turitea Campus at Massey has a Hitchhiker's Bay. It has a glass shelter with the words 'This Is Not A Bus Stop' carefully written on the walls.

Interesting - the closest one yet. Thanks.

I went down the road today and the new signs are up. I will post any developments.

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