Where have all the hitchhikers gone?
 

It recently occurred to me that I very rarely see hitchhikers anymore. Even before covid. It's been many years of a slow decline. I used to see them fairly regularly. Not anymore. Why is this?

In the early 70's I hitched more than almost anyone.
In college, we would thumb in groups of two or three and still get rides easily.

Still fairly common in Alaska.

Think the serial killers made it impractical everywhere else.

Murdered?:D

I only hitched once, central MO to Lawrence, KS when my friend got a DUI after a Widespread Panic concert in St. Louis. Found a long haul trucker who took mercy on a stupid 20 year old.

You are correct. I no longer see them. Too many nut jobs here in socal. Lets be honest, I wouldn't want my kids doing it and they will never find out I did such thing, twice.

My buddy and I hitch hikes into the sierras from Fresno when we got out of high school. Took the bus up to Fresno and thumb out way into the back country. No truck driver ever even gave us a look. Mostly were logging trucks.

All living in tents in Portland...

HMM, there was my hitchin' trip from Athens, O to PGH. Got picked up on I77 in a VW van with a couple of ladies and some..., well that was a good trip

Living in Kalamazoo, three of us decided to thumb to a BOC concert in Det on a Sat afternoon.
Easily got rides right to the stadium.
Never put much thought to the fact that we would have to thumb back the 150 miles after midnight.

Crazy times!

Still have them here. Nevada City to North San Juan on how way 49.
Hitchhiked from the Bay Area to Yellowstone one summer. Lots of interesting people. Montana was another story. Lots of drunk cowboys wanting to fight. Luckily they were really hammered.

No long distance hitchhiking, but all around town in the 70’s.

Same here. After I got a car I made a point to pick up others. Just my way of paying back. It just aint safe these days.

Hitchhiking - That was the original ride share app...

These days, people think hitch hiking is dangerous but Uber is not... because there’s an ‘app’...

Umm hmm.

The chances of a driver or a hitchhiker being a serial killer are microscopic.

The chances of an opiate/meth addict robbing you is a different story.

Hitchhiking was never the best option... Maybe broke people can get around a whole lot easier today?

That and Taxi/Uber drivers take plastic.

I hitched all over Cali. in the 60s to the late 70s. Sometimes I did it for the fun of it. I normally hitched to S.D.S. College from the beach area where I lived. When I drove my VW camper, I'd pick up other students. Then a professor at school created something called the "Bug Line." They took some old city type busses, put bug eyes and antenae on them and operated them from all the beach areas to school & back. It was free and they paid for it with advertising. I also hitch hiked a bit in Europe and around western and southern Mexico and parts of Central America. I doubt I'd do it now and probably not pick up anyone, because of the way people are now days.

Sad if it's not happening like it used to.

In my teens I hitchhiked from San Diego to NYC. And in my 20's from Cape Town to Harare (Zimbabwe). Ha, the mental attitude of the young - you know it's a long way so you bring a good book.

Same here. In my late teens we hitchhiked several times all the way down to the riviera. Coast of France, Monaco, italy. Slept in bags. I would not dream of having my children doing that now. As late as the 80´Europe, not least Scandinavia, was a very peaseful place, sharing the same moral codes. Not anymore.

A bit off topic, but its sad about the slipping of the moral codes and our peaceful places are in our rear view mirrors. This got me thinking about how safe Japan is. I felt pretty safe in China a couple summers ago when we visited. I wouldn't live there but when we arrived in Hong Kong, and got talking with some expats, they all tell me its super safe, not sure if they would ever pick up a hitch hiker though? Are there safe places (cities) anymore?

My last time was back in 88 with a back pack larger my me on my back in the Sierras Navada mts. The only time I picked up someone in LA was a couple of Mexican guys on the side of the road. Their big old dump truck was out of gas sitting on the side of the road. I knew no way in hell anyone would help them so I took them to the gas station and brought em' back. My workman was surprise that I would do such thing knowing how dangerous LA can be. These guys just want to work, get done and go home to their families. If they were young, homeless guys, no fooking way I would even stop a mile from them.

I hitchhiked across Europe 25 years ago with no issues. Dont think I would have tried that in the US though.

Overall it was a great experience.

I used to hitch hike a lot when I was 15-16 years old. I also picked up more than my fair share of hitch hikers until I was about 18. My vehicles would get broken into regularly and this stopped for the most part when I quit picking up local hitch hikers.

When I left for college for the first time, I picked up a couple about my same age in Vancouver and drove them all the way to Jasper. I was invited to spend the night with them and they told me I would have work in the morning. I politely declined and continued on to Edmonton, an education, and a career in Engineering.

Seems like now a life goal would be being a ski bum in a park town... I had my chance.