KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A sign in hand and a thumb in the air are what we normally think of when someone is trying to hitch a ride along the highways across America.
Now many people will use a keyboard to hitch a ride.
“It’s like digital hitchhiking,” says Capt. Rich Lockhart of the Kansas City Police Department.
People advertise now on Craigslist, offering up an extra seat in their car or asking for a ride in exchange for gas money and help driving.
Some offer rides around your town, across the state or even a cross-country trip.
Ride seekers say they are often trying to save on travel expenses, cope with a lack of transportation or express environmental awareness.
But this new trend is raising eyebrows, especially with police.
"It’s very dangerous," Capt. Lockhart warns.
"It's easy. It's convenient"
Gregory Volle of Shawnee regularly uses
rideshare on Craigslist.
“It’s easy. It’s convenient,” Volle says.
Volle is new to Johnson County and doesn’t have a car, but he does have three jobs.
That means Volle goes online to find rides.
“This was the only feasible way, with a poor transportation system in Johnson County, for me to get to work,” Volle says.
Log onto Craigslist and you’ll find ad after ad, offering or seeking rides to and from college towns or vacation spots over the holidays.
One
recent ad offers a ride to Florida for Thanksgiving.
Another person asks for a
ride from Columbia, Mo., to Kansas City.
We even found a driver seeking riders for a cross-country trip.
Melissa McNell, of Cass County, uses rideshare because of her concerns about the environment. She asks for riders as a way to car pool whenever she travels.
McNell said, “I feel really guilty whenever I travel and I don’t have all my seats filled.”
