The country where it's mandatory to pick up hitchhikers

12/06/2024 02:00 PM

From an early age, most Australians are taught to avoid getting into cars with strangers.

But in the case of Cuba – the biggest Caribbean island located south of the Bahamas and north of Jamaica – hitchhiking has become a crucial part of the country’s national transport system.

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In fact, Cuba’s road rules mandate that government vehicles must pull over to pick up hitchhikers, and plenty of private drivers are also willing to lend a hand provided they’re financially compensated.

Tourists have shared their experiences with the unique road rule – which was officially introduced between the 1990s and the early 2000s as a way to deal with the country’s collapsing transport system – in a viral Reddit thread from 2020.

"[I've] been to Cuba recently, [and I] can confirm people just stand by the side of the road, medical students, regular workers, etc and then cars stop by and people get in," one Reddit user recalled.

"We paid for a private driver to take us from Trinidad to Havana. Ended up sharing most of the drive with an off-duty, hitchhiking police officer we picked up along the way. It was a strange experience, but typically Cuban," another commenter explained.

In Cuba, hitchhiking is a legitimate form of public transport and was nationally adopted as a road rule between the 1990s and early 2000s, when authorities made it mandatory for drivers to collect travellers who are heading to a location that's in the same direction as where the driver is heading.

How does Cuba’s hitchhiking system work?

According to a 2015 report by US news outlet Vice, the hitchhiking system is colloquially named 'ir con la botella', which loosely translates as 'going by the bottle' due to the way the outstretched thumbs hitchhikers use to flag down vehicles mimic a person drinking from a bottle.

The system works similarly to other public transport arrangements in most countries.

Travellers wait by a collection point – dubbed 'punto amarillo' (yellow points) – and pay a fee to a government worker dressed in a yellow uniform.

Once locals have paid, the transport worker, typically dressed in a yellow uniform, facilitates the exchange by asking hitchhikers where they're going and relays the message to a driver they've flagged down.

Despite dedicated areas for hitchhikers, virtually any person in Cuba can flag a driver down along local streets and highways.

In a 2019 report by the local newspaper Cuba Net, Cuban residents explained what it’s like having to rely on a transport system that isn't properly regulated.

"Cars and buses stop at the kerb, but you have to give the drivers some money, it's not because they are supportive," one local told Cuba Net.

"I travel every day and I know the technique. The same yutongs (buses), if they stop at a [specific] point, they can only charge you one peso ($AUD0.65), that is why they load [passengers] further ahead, to charge more," they explained.

Despite the prevalence of hitchhiking in Cuba, the Australian Government’s Smartraveller website urges Australian tourists to avoid the practice.

“Thieves who pose as hitchhikers are also common [in Cuba]. To protect yourself from road-based crime: only use established tour operators and registered taxis, keep doors locked, windows up, and valuables out of sight, even when moving [and] don’t pick up hitchhikers,” the Smartraveller website states.

Why is hitchhiking so popular in Cuba?

Hitchhiking in Cuba was born out of necessity following the Soviet Union’s exit from the country in 1991, which led to a severe economic collapse.

Cuba greatly relied on the Soviet Union for economic support through trade and oil subsidies, and once the tensions between the USSR and the US dissolved, it left the Caribbean nation struggling to stabilise after Soviet support regressed.

In response, then-former President Fidel Castro declared a ‘Special Period in a Time of Peace’, when the Cuban Government started to ration food and energy supplies, leading to famine and severe hardship for a vast majority of the population.

During the early 1990s when the ‘Special Period’ was at its most severe, public services such as buses were reduced, and fuel was in short supply because of US trade embargoes, further compounded by the Soviet Union's withdrawal from the country.

For context, a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report released in 2007 – which includes information gathered by the Intelligence Agency in the 1980s – revealed that “Soviet-supplied petroleum accounted for 75 per cent of Cuba’s total energy consumption".

"Cuba has no large oil deposits and little hope of finding any and domestic production accounts for less than five per cent of total petroleum requirements,” the CIA report stated.

"Even a 10 per cent reduction in petroleum supplies would reduce economic activity. This vulnerability is increased by limited oil capacity as the island’s storage tanks can hold only a two-month supply, making stockpiling for long-term contingencies nearly impossible.”

Soviet oil was critical to Cuba's public transport system, and the exit of the country's presence in the domestic economy meant public transport vehicles like buses were in short supply at a time when most of the population did not have access to private cars.

In a 2018 BBCreport, residents said hitchhiking was the only viable transport option for a vast majority of the public as most of the vehicles, buses and motorbikes were owned by the Cuban Government.

One Cuban local explained to the BBC that "very few people" were granted permission to purchase and privately own a vehicle, and those with access to cars, trucks, taxis and bus drivers "were obliged to pick up hitchhikers because there were so many more people than cars".

Prior to the policy reforms in 2013, cars that were present before the 1959 Cuban Revolution were the only vehicles allowed to be bought and sold in the domestic market, which explains why American and Soviet-built cars from the 1950s are abundant in the country.

The legislation change more than a decade ago allowed locals to purchase new and second-hand cars without requiring permission from the state government.

While the government now allows the open sale of vehicles in Cuba, the depreciating value of the Cuban Peso, coupled with high unemployment rates, has led to a majority of the population suffering from poverty, meaning owning a car isn’t a priority in comparison to food supplies and healthcare.

According to a 2024 study conducted by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) – a Madrid-based non-profit organisation – 89 per cent of Cuban families live in extreme poverty.

Is hitchhiking illegal in Australia?

Hitchhiking is illegal across most Australian states and territories – but not all – and penalties can vary depending on where the offence was committed.

In places like Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland, the road rule states: "A pedestrian must not stand on, or move onto a road to hitchhike", and any offenders caught breaking this law can face a maximum penalty of $395, $2200, and $3200, respectively.

In Western Australia, a person cannot "solicit contributions, employment or a ride from an occupant of a vehicle", and any pedestrian found to violate this rule can be fined $50.

Hitchhiking is also illegal in South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, but the road rules do not definitively state what the fine would be.

According to Tasmania’s road rules, while pedestrians are barred from standing or moving on a road, “hitchhiking does not constitute part of the offence”. By this definition, hitchhiking is legal in the state.

In the case of the Northern Territory, the road rules do not specifically state hitchhiking is an offence. However, the state government advises drivers to “never pick up hitchhikers”.

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