Larry.org

Good article link from Laura.

This form of commuting - solo drivers picking up strangers so they can all cruise to work legally in high-occupancy-vehicle lanes - is called "slugging."

To Commute to Washington, the Early Bird Gets 'Slugs' - April 29, 2003 By PETER T. KILBORN NY Times (registartion required).



It was great to be able to Slug in Washington. I did it quite a lot when I lived in Norther Virginia. I would dress up nice, act polite, wait my turn and off I went knocking my in transit time in half. On demand transportation without the hassle of riding the bus. It was kind of inspiring and community building too. I felt like I was closer to my fellow commuter when I slugged.



I would commute with folks all over the economic strata, make some small talk if they started a conversation (you never start talking to your driver but you could start talking to a fellow slug) and leave a little closer to my community in both the suburbs and the city. The best part was how it would reinforce within me the idea that the guy in the expensive ride is likely just as practical and friendly as the guy in the effeciency commuter type vehicle, and the guy in the commuter was just as likely to be gruff, vane or otherwise self absorbed stress monkey as the guy in the sweet ride that put his annual income way over yours.



The fellow slugs were even harder to guess right on in terms of personality. I learned alot about the human beings inside the military, the federal government, political lobbies and all manner of other vocations that have completely biased archetypes. It was easy to start a conversation becuase we all hated to waste the time you spent doing something as simple as driving 10~20 miles, so once you got on the move everyone was in a pretty good mood.



I can't imagine this working in Phoenix. I'm not saying there's anything we can or should do to become more slug-friendly. We barely have enough freeways and we certainly don't have enough HOV lanes. It is a shame thought that it couldn't work becuase Phoenix is a friendly town but it's hard to get to know people from different walks of life if you're not thrust into a situation like you are when slugging. Why wouldn't it work in Phoenix? Glad you asked.

No central nightmare of congestion. Lots of general congestion couple choke points that may or may not be congested. (Not that we don't bitch about traffic here :). We certainly have traffic problems, that's pretty constant from city to city I've noticed.)

No mass transit system. This is a key to making it work. When I was slugging in Washington DC the 'common destinations' that are referred to in this article where all good hubs for lots of public transit options.

Distributed start and end points. This is one key to the lower risk that occurs in DC with this system. Most slugging is from suburbs to the central city. We don't really have a central city, which is why we don't have the nightmare congestion that Washington has. It's also why folks would never be able to Slug in Phoenix. The end points to everyon's commute are very diverse becuase the city is so spread out.

Slugging would be more dangerous in Phoenix. In Washington you have more Military and well dressed (suits) professional commuters. In Virginia you can add a very strict vehicle inspection regime adding to the feeling of general safety. We also very liberal gun control regulations, a much higher percentage of Phoenix drivers have a gun in the car. A few of them have even been known to use them while commuting though that's very rare percentage wise.