Editing Rideshares (section)

= Germany =

(info copied from a post of till in a group, see http://www.couchsurfing.com/group_read.html?gid=429&post=121836 . need reformatting)

in germany the predominant site for carpooling is www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de (existing since 2001), which is an independent, mainly for germany but occasionally also for rides within the rest of europe, but usually between germany and any other country.
there is no fee for the arrangement but you have to pay the driver. 
for security or reliability issues: nothing will happen if somebody (driver or "guest") changes his mind 5 minutes before the ride which can be pretty disappointing if a ride is cancelled 5 minutes before. they have no security checking or rating system for the members.

there is www.mitfahrzentrale.de where you can send emails via the web-site but have to pay something (like $2) to see the phone number of the driver.

the "classic" pre-internet carpooling company called www.city-netz.de is dead or almost dead by now (i think) because it is quite complicated to use. you have to go to a travel agency, buy a ticket (which means, pay their fee - which is distance based, around 7€ for a ride like 600km, i.e. berlin -> cologne - plus you pay something like 25$ for the driver). The last time that i used that oldschool carpooling agency, the driver was with his little kid and my feeling was that he wanted to be sure that everything is secure. with the city-netz.de both sides have to leave their passport numbers etc.

within germany there is no cheaper way to travel than with the first site i mentioned, unless you hitchhike or you get a super discount flight or train ticket, which can happen sometimes but not on a reliable basis.