Is hitchhiking a lift still a thing?

Pauliedragon

Saw a guy today with his thumb out on the footpath in my area. Can't remember the last time I saw that. He was only about 50m from the bus stop. Do many people still do this and would anyone here pick up a hitchhiker?

Wanderer2010

I havent seen it in many years in the bigger cities in Ireland but you would see it the odd time in some of the rural areas or very small towns where in most cases the hitch-hiker is hoping to get a spin off a local or somebody in the area who knows them well, maybe they had car trouble or their plans changed and are looking for some help.

I would never accept a hitch hiker unless I knew them. Letting a stranger into your car is no different from opening the front door of your home and leaving all and sundry in. I usually get shot down for saying that, but Im not taking the risk that some random person turns out to be a drug addict/violent or scumbag who wants you dead. Slightly dramatic and unlikely? Maybe. But im happy being cautious.

Lewis_Benson

Still see it the odd time

Myself and the Mrs were heading down to Doolin in 2016 and picked up a German couple who were looking to get to lisdoonvarna, they ended up coming to doolin with us, as that was their eventual destination.

They were thankful we picked them up.

Strumms

haven’t seen a hitchhiker in an absolute age.

would I pick one up ? No. We live in seriously more unpredictable and violent times than say 20 years ago when it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence especially in rural areas..

LambshankRedemption

The last 3 or 4 times I tried it, it was an absolute disaster. So I dont bother anymore. I live in quite a remote area, the nearest bus stop is 2 miles away. I'd rather spend 30 minutes walking to the bus in the rain, than stand in the rain for an hour or more, in the hope, someone I know might be passing, or someone might be kind enoough. In reality, if I know I need to be somewhere, I ring a neighbour the night before and ask for a lift to the bus.

There may be a number of factors at play here. A single female or a couple, I think would have more success than me, a big male.

briany

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120973661#Comment_120973661

Overall, we probably live in far less violent times than 20 years ago or more. I'd say violence was much more a fact of life back in the days when corporal punishment was still allowed, and there are probably many extremely brutal stories that were swept under the rug in old Ireland. We are, however, much more attuned to incidents of violence, now, due to our near instantaneous access to information, and it's more this which puts violence in the forefront of our minds more than its increase in occurrence.

Public transport infrastructure has gotten a bit better since the 90s. Everyone has a phone to arrange some kind of lift if they need one, or to call assistance if they break down. Alongside the increase in car ownership, it's these things which have really put paid to the practice of hitchhiking. Also, I don't think people are as open to socialising with strangers as they had been in days of old. If you're driving somewhere now, you might just want to be in your own thoughts and have a podcast going, not engaging in awkward conversation with one or more randomers.

AyeGer

I thumbed as we called it a lot back in the 90’s as a teenager and early 20’s. It was rarely difficult to get a lift.

It was quite common then. The only people I see thumbing these days are disheveled looking men in their 40’s or 50’s and the odd foreign couple with backpacks.

I don’t stop for them, I can’t quite put my finger on why because I should be returning the favour I received back in the 90’s. But it just seems to be a different clientele now.

standardg60

https://youtu.be/2AvvTynRi48

You can't be too careful nowadays 😁

I’m thinking of the last time I gave someone a lift, and I was a big guy. But the location was the Scottish island of Islay during a downpour, nearest bus stop a couple of miles away. Had been visiting a remote Celtic cross and church ruins, so had he and was on his way back on the very rough rough, wearing a bright yellow mack, dressed for it.

He gladly accepted the lift, I was stopping off to visit distilleries but offered to take him to main village of Port Ellen, he said thanks but he’d be fine getting the bus whose route started at the Ardbeg distillery.

Turned out he had arrived by his own boat from Maryport in Cumbria, so he was a hardy soul. I think he got a little nervous of me as he was sure to tell me if his wife at home! 🤣🤣

briany

I just remembered that the Moncrieff Show did a piece last year where they sent Henry McKean out thumbing.

Furze99

See the odd person on quiet rural local roads but very occasional now.

As for the longer journeys, I think it was in decline with growth of motorways and Covid killed it off.

TinyMuffin

I’d be afraid this would happen 😋

https://youtu.be/OAfxs0IDeMs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120973927#Comment_120973927

I think that’s why the guy in my car got nervous, I started singing that

🤣

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120973927#Comment_120973927

It was a place she knew well so wasn't her first time the durty stopout

cj maxx

I don’t know if it’s a done thing now , but I thumbed home from Galway ( college) and Cork ( work). I had great and scary experiences. Best was getting a lift from Cork to straight to Monaghan . I don’t see many now thumbing . Scariest was one Friday the thirteenth getting a lift in a hearse . It had a coffin but thankfully no body in it . But even I would think twice about giving a stranger a lift now

Akrasia

I gave some French backpackers a lift to lahinch a few weeks ago. They were soaked and it was getting late

I wasn't even going to Lahinch. I just felt sorry for them

nice bit of green

I just don’t think people hitch much these days. They budget for and make themselves available for public/private transport. Driving and car ownership is more common these days, therefore people are more inclined to make their own way rather than hitch.

satguy

Hitchhiking is dead now, drivers are more careful these days, and rightly so.. I'm 60 now and remember hitchhiking was just the way it was.

A guy used to dress up as Batman every Friday and stand at Newlands Cross,, and every week someone always picked him up.

cj maxx

Actually thinking about it more , the last hitchhiker I lifted was a Scottish girl who told me she was on the game and hitchhiking and lorry drivers were her source of income..

victor8600

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058309138/is-hitchhiking-a-lift-still-a-thing

I always pick up hitchhikers if there is space in the car. However, it is not common in Ireland. In the last 10 years, it only happened twice -- once a couple of runners, one of them sprained her leg and so I brought them back to their car, and another time a trio of German students hiking in Wicklow.

Gregor Samsa

There's a few regulars do it in Ennis. There's a spot just across from the Bishop's house that you'd often see people hitching, in the direction of Lahinch. There's a busker that hitches from the Tulla Road, just after the railway bridge, regularly too.

dublincc2

Yes it’s still going, I gave a lift to a guy from Newbridge to Portlaoise a while back, seen a few around Tipperary and Kilkenny in recent months.

dublincc2

Also a few years back I have a lift to a guy in Keady, he was going to the Castle Leslie estate in Monaghan, big 6’6 muscular guy and I was regretting picking him up when he got in, great guy actually former British Army served in Armagh for many years and was going back exploring the area staying in Monaghan.

CelticRambler

The anecdotes above match the attitudes of my Irish-resident siblings - they'd never pick up a hitchhiker, and wouldn't dream of doing it themselves, let alone encouraging their children to try it. Too much "risk".

On the other hand, it's still "a thing" on the Continent, as I do wonder how many hours those Continentals mentioned above spent trying to get a lift before the posters came along and stopped for them.

Last time I thumbed a lift was a couple of years ago after a breakdown. I was prepared to walk the 20km home, but very pleased that a complete stranger (single white female!) pulled up for me, and drove a couple of km out of her way to drop me at my door. I'll pick up anyone as long as they're standing in a sensible place (which a lot aren't) and depending on how pressed for time I am myself will consider a deviation of a few tens of km to deliver them to a suitable next stop. The number of great stories outweigh the bad ones by ... well, infinity seeing as I'd have to divide by zero.

Having said all that, it's also less common these days on the Continent, as drivers seem to be hooked on their sat-nav times and trajectories (mostly involving motorways) and passengers are more likely to log onto a ride-sharing site so as to have a bit more certainty about when and where they'll be picked up.

dublincc2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120973927#Comment_120973927

How can I get you alone I thought would be a better one

Shocks12

Yes it is. Just brought a man from South Kilkenny into Kilkenny City!!!

Cluedo Monopoly

I hitched all around Ireland in the late 80s. Staying in hostels and just going with the flow. Magical days.

I see the odd hitcher now but Covid put a stop to it for 2 years I think.

Henry James

I saw someone hitching last week in the middle of a town. He was at a bus stop and on the right road to go out of town.

Fr Tod Umptious

Used to do it all the time as a teenager in and out of town on a Saturday afternoon, about 5 miles.

In college used to do it from Galway to Mayo almost every Friday and even a few Monday mornings.

The Headford Rd in Galway was full of people thumbing on a Friday afternoon.

When I was in Dublin I used to get the bus to Maynooth and hitch from there to Mayo or Galway, and like the Headford Rd the road out of Maynooth was full on a Friday.

But the bypass stopped all that.

I tried tumbling in late '94 from Dublin and had to start somewhere around Palmerstown, very different experience than starting in Maynooth.

That was the last time I did it.

I think greater car ownership amoung students killed intercity thumbing.

iniscealtra

Picked up a poor girl in Mayo with a massive backpack. She was going to walk the greenway go Achill but changed her mind. I would have done too with the size of the bag. Dropped her back at the B&B. Have picked up people here and there, not often. Drove past a guy at 6 on a very rural road. It was lashing rain, dark and I had no phone reception. It was winter. He was wearing a jumper and was drenched. I decided not to pick him up. Questioned what the hell was he doing without a coat in the dark at that hour of the morning. I was on my own in the car going to work and that stretch of road has zero phone reception. I still feel a bit guilty about it. Poor fecker or he could have been a bit nuts. I am a smallish woman but I felt bad driving past him but anyone I’ve mentioned it to said I would have been crazy to pick him up.

Only other hitchhiker I see now is a local drinker who wants to save the bus money for pints in the local pub.

mockler007

I think movies about hitchhiking murdering the drivers put a stop to it, kinda like what jaws did for people swimming in the sea