Business: The Prague Post Online

A cheaper way to travel

By J.M. Giordano

New ride-along service links drivers with travelers

A new Prague business is offering an inexpensive travel alternative for the thousands of hitchhikers who thumb their way across the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe.

Now drivers going on a domestic or international trip can meet up with travelers looking for a lift by using Town to Town, a new agency functioning like one of those "Ride Offered/Ride Wanted" bulletin boards at expatriate businesses around Prague.

Link-ups often take place with short notice. Drivers call the agency several days before a trip and report when and where they're going and how much space they have for passengers and luggage. Travelers call as well and inform the service of their travel plans. Once the passengers pay the fee, the agency gives them a ticket and contact information for the driver.

Passengers pay a fee -- which includes gas -- that is based on the length of the trip. The agency keeps 30 percent, and the rest goes to the driver.

The cost to the passenger is usually a third to half the price of a comparable bus ticket. The average one way ticket to Paris on a bus, for example, costs between 2,000-2800 Kc ($59-82). A one-way ride with Town to Town costs 1,510 Kc.

Town to Town offers insurance through Ceska Kooperativa, and each driver fills out an application. Owner Vik Dosondil said he'd like to check out driving records, but Czech law makes that impossible.

The company cannot guarantee a way back, but its partnership with the German firm ADM -- parent company of the well-known ride-along service Mitfahrzentrale- provides a Europewide network of drivers.

"If a traveler goes to a city that has an ADM office, then he can get a ride back," he said.

That, of course, assumes drivers are available. Passengers just need to be patient and flexible.

"We are in the process of arranging a deal with a local bus company so that travelers may order tickets through us, and that will get them back here with no problem," Dosondil said.

While using Mitfahrzentrale to travel around Germany last year, 34-year-old Dosondil decided it was time to introduce the concept to the Czechs. Since he opened the agency with 150,000 Kc in March, he has received calls from 100 drivers and provided lifts for 25 passengers.

"The Czechs are transit people and this business should have no problem catching on," he said. "We are off to a slow start, but the summer is coming and we expect to have at least 21 passengers a day." Because of his low overhead, that is the number he needs to keep the company in the black.

Ride-sharing is already popular in Europe. Last year, ADM, which with 57 offices is the largest ride-along company in Europe, provided service to 3 million travelers on the Continent.

Prague has the only ride-along service in the country, but Dosondil said he's considering opening branches in other Czech cities next year. Except for ADM's branch in Budapest, it's the only such service in a former Soviet-bloc country.

Finding drivers is no problem, Dosondil said, but persuading Czech travelers to pay for a seat instead of hitchhiking will be more difficult.

"I have driven three times with Town to Town," said driver Tomas Opatrny. "All of my passengers have been foreigners and not Czechs. We are simply not used to it yet."

Dosondil is confident, however. "Once the Czechs see the savings, they should have no problem going with us," he said. "We offer insurance where most bus companies do not."

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The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.

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