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I wrote this stub (thanks go to Rootbeer for the excellent editing). I wonder if something needs to be done about what I perceive to be the western bias, though.

Hitchiking in rich countries is something done more for adventure than out of necessity. -are you kidding? Depends on how much you travel and what you do in life obviously, but as a student who is frequently on the road how the hell am I supposed to pay a train ride to the south of the country which costs up to 200 euros?

Are there countries where hitchhiking is done out of necessity? Or is that called car-pooling then? (Perhaps this article should point out the the two participants in a lift generally do not know each other.)--branko

Hitching in rich countries is NOT always done out of necessity - you've obviously never taken drifters... But you're right to say that it's more common. -- And yes, there are many countries where people hike out of necessity - and it's not carpooling because it's not prearraged. People stand by the roadside very regularly. This article does have a Western bias, but to get rid of that it really just needs expanding. My contention is - should we really have tips on how to hitchhike? - Wikitravel is perfectly sufficient. That isn't really our job. We're not a how-to guide. --Pteron 18:41, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Chances of getting a ride: my hitchiking experiences are 20 years outdated, but I would say that gender, number and age have an impact - two young males have less of a chance than e.g. two women, mixed gender couple or single elderly person. --Georgius 10:30, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Web based wiki 2 Eastern Europe 3 = 3.1 Reasons 3.2 External links 3.2.1 digihitch 3.3 Clarity 3.4 Request: Legal status 3.5 Just a query 3.6 South Africa 3.7 Recent Changes

[edit] Web based wiki

What web based wiki or wikis would be a good alternate to my blog about lifts around and about http://liftscambridge.blogspot.com that does not need the software downloaded to the computer setup at this end and has minimal or no ads? dsaklad@zurich.csail.mit.edu 10:09, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

http://hitchhiking.wikia.com? I'm actually thinking of moving it to another spot, so that there won't be ads anymore. Guaka 18:38, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Eastern Europe

The article says: "For example, many eastern European governments firmly supported hitchhikers and in many eastern European and developing nations it is still a very mundane and ordinary occurrence, with hitchhikers a part of the ordinary social landscape, in some places crowding one another out waiting for rides." What proof is there of this claim? In communist Romania (as in before 1989) hitchhiking was ilegal and now people are still very reluctant to take on hitchhickers. In fact it has a very bad name.

[edit] =

[[["Proof" for the stated above exists likely for Poland and Russia, where hitchhiking was institutionalized. In Poland there used to be a "Biuro Autostop"-branch of the Polish Tourist Countryside Lovers Association PTTK. An example of official hitchhikng material may be found here: http://www.polskaludowa.com/codzienne/ksiazeczka_Autostop.htm. The situation in Poland regarding hitchhiking during the communistic/socialist era (1945-1990) has been described in the study Autostop Polski which was issued last year (it is linked to on the hitchhiking page of wikipedia). The book lists numbers of sold official hitchhiking booklets with official hitchhikers cards, by which drivers knew they would receive a coupon worth a bonus by serving a ride.

However, one can discuss wether it concerned STRONG governmental support in Poland and Russia. Well informed hitchhikers of that time are not very likely to read and comment this Wikipedia page (for example because of their age and quite low share of them possessing PC and web access). With the knowledge from Autostop Polski that several tens of thousands hitchhiking booklets were sold on a yearly bases in the 70s/80s, knowing that the number of vehicles in Poland at the time was unlikely to be more than 1 or 2 mln, hitchhiking must have played an important role in the whole of mobility.

Thus far I have not heard of official governmental support in "eastern European nations" other than Poland and Russia.

However, even if hitchhiking was not officially (strongly) supported by governments in Eastern Europe, the politics (communism, socialism, Leninism), economic situation, the principle of equality of "the people" in earnings, freedom, allocation etc and the relative scarce availability of vehicles (and petrol?) in a limited variation of models did anyway encourage people to a much stronger degree than the capitalistic system in other parts of the world, where status, prestations, capital, appearance and "egoism" pay off.

Besides that the definition of Eastern European countries (vs nations) is discussable. In geographical terms we have to devide Europe in West, Central or Middle and East, where Poland for example is a Central European country. A popular division however is Eastern versus Western Europe, where many people regard the old NATO countries as Western Europe (including Greece for example), while the former Warsawpact countries are considered as Eastern Europe (except the former country DDR, which territory has become part of Germany and is also regarded as Western Europe according to the "old" political definition of Eastern and Western Europe).

Geographical incorrectness of marking Poland as Eastern European becomes more apparent when one consideres that when one draws a cross from all corners of the European continent, they cross in the middle of Poland.

It would be interesting to know more about the legal situation regarding hitchhiking in Romania a priori 1990. Frank Verhart, 11 dec 06]]]

[edit] Reasons

I do not agree with this statement: ""Many current-day hitchhikers combine hitchhiking with hospitality exchange networks for many of the same reasons (cheap; social political reasons; meeting people)."" This MAY possibly apply to SOME countries in Western Europe, but certainly NOT to most if not all countries in Central Europe, all countries in the East of Europe and most if not all countries in Asia. In Eastern Europe (Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia) the share of hitchhikers in hospitality exchange networks is close to 0%. The same can be concluded for the continent Africa, or for Cuba for example. A high share of people who hitchhike there do not even have access to PC and web. The statement is too much of a generalization. Besides that this topic deserves another paragraph, since it brings in another topic rather than to explain motivations of hitchhikers. Frank Verhart, 11 dec 06. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.30.146.252 (talk) 21:09, 11 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] External links

Please read Wikipedia:External links before discussing these.

I've cleaned up the external links section. The urls removed are listed here. Maybe a List of hitchhiking sites or List of ridesharing sites should be made?

( see removed links in old version ∴ here…♠ 05:17, 24 January 2006 (UTC) )

Feel free to reinsert, but please make a case on the talk page too to prevent reversion. - FrancisTyers 19:47, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

• There is a subsite specifically for female hitchhikers on girls.hitchbase.com (link removed ∴ here…♠ 22:50, 1 December 2006 (UTC))

Removed. - FrancisTyers 15:35, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

So, I've never edited a wiki anything until i just now corrected the link to The Hitchhiker's Guide to Hitchhiking which had a "www" that broke the link. Am I missing anything as to why no one noticed this break before me? -e

nope thanks ! ∴ here…♠ 05:17, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

Hitchhiking links could go on and on, and I agree this is not necessarily a good thing for an encyclopaedic listing. I think it would be best to list those sites in external links that give cultural information, topical research or general resources, and not just 'how or where to hitchhike' info. If someone chooses to clean up links based on objective criteria, I hope they will also notice that the editors of digihitch.com have strived to offer many objective and cultural resources, with the ongoing goal of cleaning up site listings and cataloguing as much as possible with the help of members. Morgan 'Salman' May 01, 2006

It would be better to clean up the "external links and references" as this combination is mixing up things and I just added an example of a blanket hitchhiking ban in New York City. Even though I do not endorse hitchhiking, I oppose blanket hitchhiking ban in a large area. Even in New York City, some bridges lack non-motorized access and buses capable of carrying bikes, so I suppose that bikers may still be tempted to hitchhike even when illegal. Wish them the best luck in advance.--Jusjih 07:49, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] digihitch

Digihitch.com has been reinserted in external links for reasons mentioned below (see 01 May 2006 notes). The website is the most popular community of hitchhikers in the world, with over 8000 members and 30000+ unique visitors monthly. When the site is found with the keyword of 'hitchhiking' users view an average of 10 pages/visit and the bounce rate is less than 10%. Thus, when searching for hitchhiking, web visitors consider digihitch.com to be what they are looking for. Morgan 'Salman' 01 December 2006

User:Digihitch should not be adding a link to digihitch (see Wikipedia:External links: Use of Wikipedia to link to a website that you own, maintain or are acting as an agent for is strongly recommended against, even if the guidelines otherwise imply that it should be linked to.)

That aside, I am not convinced that digihitch should be the exception to the general rule here. The status quo here has found community and rideshare resources problematic and unencyclopedic. You run a nice site, but it is probably inappropriate to link it here. Best, ∴ here…♠ 22:50, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Surprised to read you referring to digihitch.com as a rideshare website when in fact ridesharing makes up less than 1% of the content and purpose of the site. Like many of the gazillions of websites linked to on Wikipedia, it is a resource website that also contains community content/stories. I can respect the general rule that editors/webmasters should not be adding links to their own sites. Looks like I, as editor, will just have to find enough wikipedian digihitchers to champion the cause and place digihitch on the Hitchhiking page. Because, IMHO, if digihitch.com did not belong on an encyclopedic page of its primary subject there would be absolutely no point for its existence on the web! Morgan 'Sal'man 05:54, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for removing the remaining embedded rideshare link. I added digihitch, with a direct link to the encyclopedia of road subculture. I won't be surprised if it is removed again at some point based on excessive advertising, majority original research, or just that wikipedia's goal has never been to provide external links. Specifically, community content and stories are not appropriate for external links, additional published and verifiable research about the article subject is. A majority of the gazillions of websites linked to on wikipedia should probably be removed. Regardless, the citation to the california traffic report should certainly stay. Thanks for all the work! ∴ here…♠ 09:18, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Clarity

Can someone make the parenthetical "(semi-force vehicle owners who would not normally use public transport to share the ride with the public by "bringing the bus to Muhammad")" clearer? I didn't understand it. --Christian Campbell 18:10, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

You're right, this is confusing and not particularly encyclopaedic, I've removed it. - FrancisTyers 18:27, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Request: Legal status

Wouldn't it be helpful and informative to compile a list of the legal status of hitchhiking in each country?

Of course it will be helpful and informative to list. I will try to list American laws. See wikitravel:Tips_for_hitchhiking#Countries for now.--Jusjih 05:04, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Hitchhiking is legal in every single country of the world. That it might not be are conservative myths. What is not legal is walking next to a motorway.

Try to tell that to a cop pulling over shouting "No hitchhiking in New York State!". Guaka 18:40, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Just a query

Which Luxemburg is it? Is it in Germany? Sorry, but there is no section on File History nor the link for the author. --129.69.36.27 10:36, 24 June 2006 (UTC) (<- was me--Anupam Srivastava 10:37, 24 June 2006 (UTC))

[edit] South Africa

When I was in South Africa in 2003 I was travelling with a local and passed a somewhat busy intersection south of Jo'burg. There was a bunch of hitchikers standing in the median, all making different symbols with their hands. It was explained to me that these represented certain destinations. I found it very interesting, maybe a local could elaborate?

[edit] Recent Changes

I'm not sure how to edit these, as they are obviously original research, yet may still be valuable. Possibly just a clean up? Schnauf 06:54, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Request: Hitchhiking Corner

I saw a reference to "hitchhiking corner" (as a definition for the German word "Trampereck"). It's not a term I'm familiar with.