Thinking maybe there’s value in a thread about transportation options that are new or that sitters haven’t necessarily heard of, so folks might be able to widen their sit locations. This thread might also be useful to hosts, say if they see transit options that they might include to help market their sits.
I’ll kick things off with this, which is new to Portland, Oregon / the Oregon coast (in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.):
Generally, the Portland area has better public transit than many parts of the U.S. And summertime typically has the best weather for the Pacific Northwest.
The Nabogo app is a co-driving app, it says regions in Denmark, Sweden and Netherlands but I think Norway also.
You put in your route whether you’re driving or looking for a ride. The driver gets paid and if the person who wants a ride has a valid buscard in the region I think they can use their buscard.
I did a sit in a Portland suburb – within the city – in the summer of 2023 – with no car. It was great. The bus system was fine. It took about 35 minutes to get downtown. If I wanted to get from downtownt to a differerent place that might take more time by bus or light rail. Around a year or so before that, I took a trip with my spouse where we left Portland to explore the beautiful Oregon coast. I can’t imagine doing a coast trip without a car even if bus service has expanded to some of the cities. Maybe if you can get a bike on the bus and you are in great shape. But transporting a pet to an en emergency vet visit would still be a challenge.
Yes, I usually rent cars or take Lyfts if I fly into various U.S. cities to sit or otherwise visit. But there are a surprisingly high number of even residents in the Portland area who do without cars.
I just visited San Francisco and rented a car for a week, because I headed south for much of the time. Out of curiosity, I checked ride share prices and they would’ve added up to more than a rental car, even though I left it sitting most of the time.
Seat 61 is handy for surface travel, world wide - give it your start and end locations and it’ll tell you the options for that route, as well as quirks along the way.
I’m a very happy bunny since I got my bus pass for travel in England. Although I use a car to get to sits I like to take advantage of public transport while there
I agree. I’ve known about this website for years and it’s brilliant for train travel. The man who originally set it up is a train enthusiast and likes to sit in seat 61. It’s updated regularly. I used it in September to travel from London to Girona and the information was spot on
Well, I can confirm that we’ve used it frequently over the last decade in the countries I highlighted with their flags :). It’s true that in some, like France or Switzerland, the prices and flexible scheduling are often very convenient.
Often, people who work or study in nearby cities make the same round-trip trip every day, and they have the price listed for a very affordable price.
I noticed that in the UK, the options that appear between large cities are not very competitive with buses, for example, and traveling by train will always be much more comfortable, and I understand that it’s not unaffordable.
For remote areas, it may be an option to consider, but it’s true that there aren’t many carpooling options available.
Once you’ve purged the trolls and jokers, you can find theories, ignorance about the app, frequent users, the occasional fearful or conservative, and the occasional explanation that might suggest it’s a cultural issue.
As a foreigner, without being able to validate this based on the opinions of UK citizens, from my point of view it’s simply not as competitive as in other countries, but it’s always worth taking a look and considering your options for the day.
By the way, I haven’t had a single bad experience in almost 100 trips; the worst I’ve ever experienced is a trip lasting several hours with three other people and the driver not speaking to each other. Which, clearly, can be a blessing for other users anyway.
@Skylos@Smiley
Wow, I’d forgotten about blablacar. I’ve used it twice, many years ago - 1 trip between Munich and Nuremberg - much cheaper than train or bus - I did get dropped at a suburban train station.
The other was Prague to Vienna - interesting trip - the driver commuted between Berlin and Vienna almost weekly. He dropped off a rider from Berlin in Prague and picked me up to go on to Vienna.
@lifephasenext
Just curious about the Turo booking - if you are willing to say, which Turo insurance did you take. I’ve looked at Turo for week-long rentals but the Chase Sapphire reserve credit card provides primary rental car coverage so shopping with one of the standard companies always comes up cheaper. And credit cards don’t code Turo as car rental so the waiver doesn’t work for a Turo rental.
Our credit card (Canadian) only covers 48 days of insurance and likely not Turo (guessing). We took the standard insurance and it still ended up half the price of anything we could get through rentals. Many Turo listings were very expensive so we’re just hoping the booking doesn’t go wrong for some reason. We also tried for short term leases but most won’t do less than a year.
Turo is cheaper, because you’re renting an individual’s car.
If there were a breakdown or something else went wrong, there would be no way to exchange the car, get roadside assistance from someone whose job it is to make sure you get assistance, etc. And if the car owner has an emergency or change of heart, they can withdraw their car from the rental.
Of course, some folks won’t care (or are willing to run the risks), so they can save. Just good to know what you’re signing up for.
alternative that we frequently use to connect sits and at the same time for our leisure trips
, Portugal, France 
, Italy 
, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom 
, Germany 
, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Czech Republic 
, Luxembourg, Switzerland 
, Slovakia, Russia, Ukraine, India, Turkey, Mexico, and Brazil
We also tried for short term leases but most won’t do less than a year.