I’ve applied for sits with “sitters need a car” and after a video chat, we’ve either agreed that I can get y without one - either because the owners trusted me enough to let me use their car or as an active person, my foot power and public transit was sufficient.
In U.S., many locations are only reachable by car.
2 Likes
I think the same problem would remain even if a “sitters need a car” filter was added because just as they are doing now, HO who were not offering use of their car would check this off without considering the accessibility of public transportation. They would take it to mean, if I’m not offering use of my car, you will need your own car. So filtering these out would mean a sitter might still be filtering out sits where you could get around using public transportation. This would need to be worded a different way.
Except in big cities, in most places in the US you need a car. But we have Uber and Lyft, and they make life much easier. Oh, and just want to mention again - it came up on another topic, the regular cabs are cheaper in NYC than Uber and Lyft.
How easy and cost-efficient are Uber and Lyft in the UK.? Are they only available in the big cities – i.e. London, Birmingham, Manchester?
1 Like
That’s a point, yes. It seems HOs do this without considering public transport.
I can’t afford Ubers, Lyfts or taxis. Only coaches, buses, trains or subways. Although I will get a taxi or Uber a short distance with heavy food shopping.
I think it would be better to change the “Sitter needs a car” button to “car not supplied”. It seems many HOs default to “needs a car” if they aren’t providing a car. Really, it should be the sitters’ decision as to whether they need a car, not the HO’s.
1 Like
I was messaging a HO about this today. She said exactly that. I agree. People are interpreting “Sitters need a car” as different things.
I know what you mean in relation to the above, but some people do live in remote places. Two of my friends live down a long country lane that doesn’t have pavements for example, and the lane is dangerous to walk along, because of blind corners and the traffic can be fast.
I would really like an ‘available by public transit’ category as that would hopefully reduce the confusion. In looking in the UK there are lots of sits that really aren’t accessible without a car and no way to filter them out.
3 Likes
As a sitter I expect the owner to provide all needs of the home and pets. If the pets need to be transported, the owner should provide or make available that transportation.
By far most pet owners do not lend their car on this site. They want to make it clear that you need to use your own car or rent one. If I were advertising for a sitter I would want that understood first off. Those that do occasionally offer the use of their car say that.
We have a car so, usually, it’s not something we worry about. However it does enter the equation on longer distance ‘sits’ - for example beyond the UK. It would not, for example, be very cost effective to have to drive down to, say, Southern France, when we might hardly use the car once at our destination.
So, we don’t hold too much regard to the ‘sitters need a car’ flag and always talk to the owners as to possible options. Things are rarely black and white re cars.
A sit we have done multiple times has worked out brilliantly for us - we fly to an airport, our hosts pick us up, we then use their car to take them to the airport, have use of their car whilst they are away, we then collect them from the airport and they take us back ( or if flight times work out, the number of return journeys can be reduced).