Flo Devellennes recently launched HitchWhistler.com — a free, digital hitchhiking community.
Photograph by: Paul McGrath, NEWS photo
The road to Whistler is long with many costs involved -- gas, public transit, parking, etc.
However the mountains continue to issue a call and skiers and snowboarders in abundance feel compelled to answer. To make things easier for winter sports enthusiasts interested in getting the most out of the season, as well as to help them reduce their carbon footprint, Flo Devellennes launched HitchWhistler.com, a free, digital hitchhiking community that helps users -- both drivers and those looking for rides -- co-ordinate trips along the Sea to Sky and to other local mountains.
Devellennes, 24, originally from France, moved to Vancouver two months ago. He came up with the idea for HitchWhistler after having to travel to Whistler a couple of times in a span of a few days for job interviews.
"I kept on doing the trip from Vancouver to Whistler . . . and picking up hitchhikers on the road," he says. "I picked up a few and we were just talking about stuff in general and I mentioned I was a web person and they said, 'Oh, wouldn't it be cool if there was a website to organize the rides back and forth from Whistler to Vancouver?"
Having lived in Quebec prior to Vancouver, Devellennes was aware of a number of ride share websites there so endeavoured to locate some Lower Mainland versions. With the exception of listings on Craigslist and Facebook, he didn't come up with much.
"As far as I could see there was really not much happening in terms of ride sharing systems. . . . So I took it on myself," he says.
Devellennes has a background in web design and development and called on the help of his friend Anne-Marie Redhead, a fellow newcomer to the Lower Mainland from the United Kingdom, for her copywriting expertise. Getting HitchWhistler up and running, they used various social media and handed out flyers to raise awareness and in a few days had 100 members. Three weeks after its launch, the site now boasts more than 300 users and is continuing to grow.
"It's going pretty well," says Devellennes. Based on the level of interest received, he's extended the site to cover journeys to North Shore mountains Cypress and Seymour as well as rides coming from Seattle. He hopes to eventually expand HitchWhistler to cover all of B.C. and Alberta, linking skiers and snowboarders headed to Western Canada's favourite mountains.
Devellennes is also looking into developing a mobile application to make it easier for people when they're on the road to organize trips.
"The whole concept of the thing was a lot of people drive up and down alone in their cars," he says. "I come from Europe and we do a lot of ride sharing back there. I thought it would be nice if we could tell people that: they could also do that here and that they could easily get people in their cars; (they could) try to do a little for the environment and try to reduce their carbon footprint while reducing their costs for gas; and (they could meet) other cool people to share the ride with."
emcphee@nsnews.com
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