User:Kreuzschnabel/Proposed features:Hitchhiking bench

Hitchhiking bench
Proposal status:	Inactive (inactive)
Proposed by:	Kreuzschnabel
Tagging:	highway=hitchhiking_bench
Applies to:	Nodes
Definition:	A bench dedicated to request a lift to a local destination
Statistics:
Draft started:	2017-06-15

Taginfo highway=hitchhiking_bench:

Alternative amenity=hitchhiking_bench:

Proposal

Hitchhiking bench in Taunusstein, Germany

Many smaller towns and villages in rural areas with sparse bus service have started to put up "hitchhiking benches" for people who don’t own a car and look for a lift to a nearby destination, e.g. the nearest town. Car drivers may pull over and pick them up from that bench. For the disabled or elderly, waiting on a bench is comfortable while thumbing on the roadside might be impossible. Another plus is local drivers knowing those places so they may have a look if there’s anybody to offer a lift to when going off to town.

Rationale

The opportunity to find such a bench and being guided there by routing apps is very helpful especially in unfamiliar places to get a lift quickly.

Examples

In most cases, there would be 1 to 3 of such benches per village/suburb, either near the centre (easy to reach) or halfway out the outgoing roads. They are kept separated from bus stops to avoid confusion, and there has developed a habit of painting them in a light blue for easier recognition.

Here’s an article in German "SPIEGEL" magazine: [1]

Tagging

The main tag should be highway=hitchhiking_bench. The use of highway=* makes sense because this feature is mainly a usage of the road network, like highway=bus_stop for example.

Further tags:

• destination=A-town;B-dale;C-ington Suggested destinations might be given on flip signs
• bench=yes It actually is a bench so there always would be one
• bench:seats=* as in amenity=bench
• shelter=*
• ref=* if there’s an identifier given
• name=*
• operator=* Maintainer of bench, might be local welfare associations or civil councils

Applies to

Nodes. None of them would be large enough to be mapped as a polygon.

Comments

Please comment on the discussion page.