No matter how you slice it, getting to the airport is a painful and often costly endeavor. Public transportation may be the “greenest” and least expensive option, but it often involves lengthy waits, cramped shuttles, and the possibility of a missed connection that could kill your trip before it even gets started. Group vans will usually pick you up at your doorstep, but they’ll swing by a half dozen other stops on the way. And while door-to-door taxi service may eliminate most of these hassles, you’ll be paying a high price for the convenience.
Hitchsters helps you reap the benefits of door-to-door transportation for only half the cost by helping travelers who live close to eachother split a cab. The site launched two years ago with initial support in New York City, and is finally making its way to the San Francisco Bay Area, along with a host of improvements that will transform the site from a purely altruistic meeting place to a viable business.
In the past, Hitchsters was a very barebones service – you could see a list of possible matches in your area, but it was up to you to call your match and arrange for a cab. The site has now partnered with a number of limousine companies who are willing to offer Hitchsters customers rates similar to what they’d get from cabs, and will automatically pair up matches depending on the distances between their addresses (there’s no longer a need to call your match). And because the rides are booked through the limo service, you can also pay online (the fare includes tax, tip, and tolls) so there isn’t an awkward exchange of cash. Hitchsters generates revenue by taking a small portion of the price, which is typically still significantly smaller than what you’d pay for your own cab (and much less than for your own limo).
Unfortunately the system is still a little iffy for the ride home. Hitchsters hasn’t set up any deals with limo services for the trip from the airport so you’ll need to hail your own cab (this shouldn’t be too difficult as taxis are often swarming airport terminals). But a bigger problem will lie in finding someone to ride home with – Hitchsters tries to work around issues with flight delays by only pairing you with people on your flight, but unless the system becomes very popular or you get lucky, you probably won’t find someone on your flight heading to the same region. In the future the site will try to work around this issue by launching a centralized database that can pair travelers that arrive at the same time, even if they were on a different flight.
Provided users can get used to the fact that they’ll be sharing a cab with a stranger (simple solution: don’t get in if they look creepy), Hitchsters seems to have a great idea and a reliable business model. In the future the site will be adding support for Boston and Washington, DC, and is considering expanding beyond airport travel (imagine being able to share a ride to a ball game).
Sounds great until the first widely publicised murder/rape/mugging
Well, I agree with you that Hitchster is not immunne from abusers. But, so are other social network apps out there – MySpace, Criagslist. Nevertheless, Hitchster has a great deal of potential for building a vast user base. Its strong points = pleasant layout, colour combination + user-friendly features
great idea. darrb.com has a similar idea but for delivery services instead of dharing a cab. people can deliver items while going to locations they desire
“Share ride and save money”. Should it be an independent site/comapny? Sounds like a Facebook App. Maybe they should create one now.
Here’s a better idea. Have a friend drop you off. In fact, why not skip the whole stupid trip. With the airport security making every Joe out as a criminal equal to the lowest dirtbags, its not fun anymore anyway. I’ll stay home, where only my wife treats me like a dirtbag, not every TSA stranger and flight attendant.
Hmmm… “share. save. SOCIALIZE…??” Really? Is hitchsters going to turn into the new Match.com? A new medium to find significant others? Seems a little creepy and definitely turns me off to the site.
I think the maker needs to take Marketing 101!
i think when they say socialize they mean meeting people…period. not matchmaking. and if you think about it, every time you get into a cab, there is the possibility of getting mugged/raped/abused. in fact i think this is safer, now there are 3 people in the car vs. just you and the cabbie or limo driver.
No thanks. I’ll take the BART / Subway / cab option for my SF-NY trips.
But then again, I’m not going to the suburbs.
hitchsters.com? more like creepsters.com… imagine all the creeps in these large cities… as a young girl in NYC, i would not feel comfortable riding in a cab with a man 10 years older than i, then, subsequently, being invited out for a friendly coffee chat with him. that’s just creepy.
im sure, with several good friends, they would kindly offer me a ride to the airport… and, thank you very much for offering such a service, but i believe my social skills are sufficient to find a suitable partner through a non-creepy, non-intentional online dating service.
no thanks. i’d rather pay $60 to ride in a sedan alone to avoid the creeps.
You can choose to only ride with females (or males) if you’d like.
Good concept, but clearly has some hurdles to overcome regarding trust, safety, and convenience/price trade-off. Additionally, something that affects my decision to drive myself or cab/BART is the length of my trip. I park on the street, and if I am gone too long, I’ll get a ticket, which has to be weighed against the parking cost. If they offered to move my car to the other side of the street, well then…
It sounds like an O.K. idea… however I do have my reservations, especially since I have a daughter who frequents the airport
1. I would much rather take the time to drop her off rather than have her take a cab, let alone take a cab with a stranger
2. It is often times cheaper to just drive yourself and park your car for $9/night if you will be gone just for a few days
3. Those who would use the service would most likely be out-of-towners who don’t have a car or don’t know anyone with a car who could help them out. It would be hard to get the word out on this site to out-of-town travelers.
4. I can definitely see others concerned about the reliability of the security of the site (re: the above comments regarding some potential unfortunate events that may take place).
All in all…. if this were truly a good idea, it would have been thought of already. It definitely could use some refinement, so good luck!
This is a great deal! With the current economic crunch, transportation services have really cut back on their fees. This is a great time to take advantage of their low prices and ride in luxury!
Agree with the last comment, they have seen a gap in the limo hire market and jumped on it, Good for them.