Of course there are several factors that influence (average) waiting times, for example:
- moment of the day when hitching takes place
- experience of the hitchhiker
- appearance and behaviour of the hitchhiker
- the degree in which the hitchhiker knows the specific itinerary, including great hitchhiking spots and pitfalls
- the complexity of the hitchhiking journeys (between two nearby villages is usually easier than hitchhiking from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Kiel)
- the average length of the accepted rides; hitchhikers who prefer longer rides (influenced by hitchhiking technique) supposedly have longer waiting times

In the specific case of the Maastrichter liftersplaats, which I have used about fifty times, I can say that I have the best results (shortest waits, longest rides) usually when I leave between 9 AM and 4 PM and after 7 PM during the summer half year. During rush hours waiting times are very often considerably longer, explained by the following factors:
- hitchhiker is less visible because the road is filled up with cars, drivers need their attention on the road
- drivers may think that since there are so many people on the road it will not take long before another driver will stop and help the hitchhiker, thus nobody stops anymore
- during non-rush hours relatively more long distance drivers are on the road plus drivers who are more “freedom” oriented, thus better chances for a match

In case of the Maastricht liftersplaats I usually get a little pissed when it takes more than twenty minutes, especially since it is a noisy place with very poor air quality.

In general I think that we don’t need many cars, we just need one. Plus technique.

Just like Kinga Freespirit told me – we need only one car.

> und unter welchen umstaenden wurdet ihr schneller mitgenommen bzw. unter welchen umstaenden musstet ihr laenger warten?

At night I have longer waiting times than during day. I am not sure if weather is a relevant factor (besides that – it doesn’t rain more than 4% of the time anyway).

> koennt ihr das bitte auch mal schnell aus euren logs rausarbeiten?

Don’t be so impatient! ;)

> von wo sind deine daten, frank? und auf wievielen lifts ist dein durchschnitt basiert?

I’m not sure how many trips I made. My detailed statistics can be found at this page
http://www.franknature.nl/hitchhike/hitchhike2.htm

Scroll down about 90-93% towards “some statistics”. My statistics are based on 770 rides (01.01.2008), total distance 39231 km, avg 51,0 km, 11399 min wait, 14,8 min wait per ride, 0,29 minute wait per km (=17 sec).
NL 448 rides, 19521 km, 43,6 km avg, 13,2 min avg wait, 0,30 min avg wait per km
D 78 rides, 7991 km, 102,4 km avg, 33,4 min avg wait, 0,25 min avg wait per km

And so on, there are certainly some inaccurancies in those stats.

> er teilt auch strecken auf, bei denen ich zB laenger warte da ich bis zur naechsten raststaette moechte, er aber einen guten "umstiegspunkt kennt".

Where? Eindhoven can be really boring, only it’s worth listening to traffic info to know if there is a serious traffic jam on Leenderheide (A2xA67), because in that case it’s quite easy to hitch on with a sign on the Notspur about 300 meter before the traffic lights.

FV