Greenservations 4: Mitfahrgelegenheit

This weekend, I went to Munich, and I had a rockin’ time getting there.  I’m going to tell you about a wonderful transportation option in Germany; Mitfahrgelegenheit.  I had always thought it would be an interesting adventure to hitchhike, and a Mitfahrgelegenheit is essentially a modern day form of hitchhiking.  Basically, there is this awesome website: http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de/ where you enter your destinations of departure and arrival.  The site will match you up with a driver who has posted about a trip they’re taking.  The drivers have some sort of description about their trip, such as how long they think it will take, how often/where they will stop, and how much they want riders to chip in for gas.

My ride to Munich was with a nice middle-aged guy named Lorenz.  He drives a new Audi A6 and requested 30 euro from each of his passengers.  This 30 euro was much cheaper than a Bahn ticket, which would have been around 70 euro (One way. Ouch.).  Lorenz and I rode with another girl and guy, and all four of us were headed to Munich to visit our special someones.  I think that I lucked out with my first ever Mitfahrgelegenheit, because it was seriously awesome.  The people were great, and I even got to cruise at 250 km/hr on the Autobahn (that’s about 155 mph. NO BIG DEAL.). 

There are many green observations that can be made about ride sharing.  While the opportunities for public transportation in Germany are widespread, sometimes they can be too expensive for the average poor college student.  I’m mostly thinking about ride sharing in the context of the USA.  Ride sharing is great because it fills up cars, and can potentially reduce the number of mostly empty cars on the roads.  One car filled with 4 people is an environmentally friendlier option than 4 cars all with only one person inside.  Automobiles have the greatest impact on air quality, so reducing the number of autos would directly correlate with improved air quality! 

The thing that I might love most about Mitfahrgelegenheit is the attitude that Germans have towards it.  It is a completely common option for travel.  I think that things that are both environmentally and fiscally responsible aren’t even a question to Germans, they are just something that everyone accepts as the best option.  I wish that everyone had that mentality in the states.  I’m definitely going to take advantage of Mitfahrgelegenheit again, and I wonder if it will ever be established in the USA. 

Here’s a good website about the benefits of ridesharing: http://www.bnl.gov/rideshare/benefits.asp