Changes

1. Take tram 4 to ''Sportweg''. Cross the tram tracks to the opposite platform and walk back about 30m in the direction the tram came to the lay-by on Pfingstweidstrasse. This is a very good hitching spot located before the motorway entrance as cars are not going too fast and drivers can see you from afar and have time to pull into the lay-by. It is also a spot easily accessible from the city center.

2. Another option is to reach a petrol station on the motorway by train and then foot. Take the S12 to ''Kilwangen-Spreitenbach''. The stop is near the service station. One can also use this petrol station to go east and south of '''Zürich''' by using the opposite side to the Bern/Basel exit. Nina, 2016: I used the first spot twice, the first time waiting quite long for a ride and the second time having no luck at all. I headed to the second spot, reached it, but the nearest petrol station was very small, and the big one was close but unreachable by foot. I walked to the east until IKEA where it was possible to cross the highway, and there waited on Limmatstrasse before the exit that leads to the highway. I got a ride very fast. It seems to me that the way traffic goes out of Zurich, spots like this one - outside the city and before the highway, rather than on the highway inside the city - would be better (maybe a similar one at Dietikon - haven't tried it, but it would make sense, and the train there is cheaper).

Take S-Bahn S7 to Kemptthal (~25 minutes from the main station), then walk up the hill in the direction from where the train came from. After a 5 min walk, you should see a grassy hill on your right hand side. Walk to the top of the grassy hill and you will find a BP petrol station, a restaurant and a small COOP supermarket.