Hitchsters 2.0  |  Travel Pointers  |  Other Stuff  |  Payment  |  Safety

What's new in Hitchsters 2.0?

1. User Accounts (MyHitchsters) - complete with your profile, trip history, the options to change your trip itinerary, and even a rating system for your co-rider, we hope these make for a better online experience.
2. Google Maps - instead of limiting matches to neighborhoods, we will match by distance. Not only will this increase the # matches, it makes for easier expansion into different cities.

Why user accounts?

1. Change a Ride - we're giving you more flexibility to change your Hitchsters itinerary (within a timeframe, of course).
2. Trip History - so that you don't need to continually input your travel itinerary every time, we'll have it saved so you can book your ride-share even faster.
3. Rating System - we don't like tardy co-riders and no-shows either, so we've worked it into our algorithm to preferentially match you with reliable riders. You'll get to rate your co-rider in an email after every successful shared ride to the airport.

Why do you want my address?

Hitchsters 2.0 matches by distance, and no longer by neighborhoods. This will increase your chance of getting matched, and makes it easier for us as we expand to different cities. And with a MyHitchsters account, we'll save your info so you can breeze through the online process.

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How do I improve my chances of being successfully matched with a co-rider?

1. Check out the site right after you book your flight, and sign up right away in order to give yourself the best odds of being matched.
2. Have your cell phone charged and ready.
3. And of course - tell everyone you know about Hitchsters. The more people using Hitchsters, the better your chance gets of being matched.

When should I contact my co-rider after I am matched?

You can call them as soon as you are matched to introduce yourself, and confirm your respective travel itineraries.

What if I want to change my flight?

Our system will wait up until 2 hours before your departure time to find a suitable match. In addition, you can change your trip itinerary within MyHitchsters up until 48 hours before your scheduled departure time, after which you need to:
1. Delete your entry on hitchsters.com
2. Contact your co-rider to inform him/her of the change.

Do not leave people hanging - if people aren't considerate, hitchsters.com will suck.

If you are the user left without a co-rider, you will have up to 48 hours to re-enter your information on hitchsters.com.

Oh no, something horrible has happened after I entered my information and I can no longer share a cab. How do I remove my entry before I am matched?

Go here to delete your entry. Thank you for deleting your entry promptly to ensure that you are not matched with a co-rider.

What if my flight is late and I am sharing a cab from the airport to my destination?

Since we only match you with other people on the same flight, you will not be affected by late flights.

I put my information in yesterday but I still have not been matched. What's up?

The hitchsters.com matching system searches for a suitable co-rider from the time you enter your information until either your flight lands or your time to hail a cab passes. We hope that the time that it takes to match you with a co-rider will shorten as more people use hitchsters.com (so please tell your friends - the more people who use it, the more money you can save). If you are not matched, you will receive a sad, depressing text message and e-mail wishing you better luck next time.

I was matched with someone in my area but 30 blocks away. Anything I can do to make it easier to meet up when we share a ride to the airport?

Don't worry, this won't happen with Hitchsters 2.0. Since we match by distance (and no longer by neighborhoods), you can be sure your co-rider is within a certain radius of where you live. How far? Well, it depends on the city.

Someone flaked and did not meet me. What should I do?

After your trip, you will have an opportunity to evaluate your co-rider with a "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down" rating. The next time
Anyone can use hitchsters.com and everyone who uses hitchsters.com uses it at their own risk, but we reserve the right to block users who abuse hitchsters.com.

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Are you going to give my personal information to 3rd party marketing agencies that are then going to bombard me with advertisements?

NO NO NO NO No.  Nope.  No way.  We hate annoying phone calls and spam e-mail, too.  We will preserve a record of all of the matches as an extra safety precaution, but we are not going to give your phone number or e-mail address to anyone for marketing reasons.  Please see our Privacy Policy for more details.

When I travel for work, I get reimbursed.  Why should I use hitchsters.com?

Because you can meet new people who might know a city better than you.  You could also treat your co-rider to a ride to the airport (ever seen that bumper sticker about "random acts of kindness"?)  Then hitchsters.com would be really cool.

I am using the Internet on the airplane now. Can I use hitchsters.com?

Yes.  The hitchsters.com matching system continues to look for a suitable co-rider on your flight until a few minutes before your scheduled landing.  If you are matched, you will receive a text message with the information of the co-rider when you land.

What if I am under 18?

Have your mom take you to the airport. Don't use hitchsters.com.

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Is hitchsters.com free?

Yes (but note your cell phone carrier may charge you for the text message).

How much should the person who gets out first pay?

After months of debate (which even included the Wall Street Journal (see here) over how to come up with a rule for splitting the fare, we decided upon the 60% rule because it accomplished three goals: (1) ensuring that the rider who gets out last doesn't get stiffed for the tip; (2) preventing riders from arguing over who gets out first (most likely the preferred option, other things being equal); and (3) providing an easy-to-remember and easy-to-calculate rule (just halve the fare to that point and add 10%).

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Is hitchsters.com safe?

All hitchsters.com users use hitchsters.com at their own risk. Similar to Craigslist, anyone can use hitchsters.com and we do not do anything to check people out before they use it.

However, any time you get in a cab (car) it is you and a stranger, and we think 3 strangers are safer than 2. Also, you have the option to choose the gender of your co-rider.

Lastly, as a safety precaution, we keep a record of all matches.

Safety Tips

First-name basis only (the hitchsters.com community is very informal).

Don't get out of the car directly in front of your place.

Let someone else know that you are using hitchsters.com (the phone number of your co-rider will be in your e-mail, too).

While it is important to be open to meeting new people if you want to save money using hitchsters.com, you are under no obligation to share a ride with someone that creeps you out (please e-mail us and let us know if this happens).

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