I won't mention any of the jokes about California, the Left Coast, or San Francisco, but if you know the jokes think about them while you read this. I am wondering if this is a strange thing to folks from "not round here."

We have a commuting custom here called the Casual Commute. At various points around the East Bay people line up in the morning to get free rides from complete strangers.

The way it works is every driver picks up two passengers. (One, of course, if one drives a two seater.) Three people in a car allows the driver to use the HOV lane and zip into San Francisco for free!

The Casual Commute has existed for many years, and the history as I understand it is that it "sprang up" after a transportation strike in the area. The Casual Commute is a very informal affair. You learn about pickup spots by word-of-mouth generally. Every few years the San Francisco Chronicle has a feature article about the Casual Commute.

As you can imagine, ridership goes up when there is a transportation strike, earthquake, or some other calamity that forces people out of our cars.

When I drive to SF I always pick someone up, and today I was talking to a new transplant to the area. The woman told me that at first she did not believe the Casual Commute was real-apparently her co-workers told her about it. And upon thinking about she did not consider it safe, but after some more thought and prodding she checked it out. Now, of course, she is a convert.

I also participate as a passenger sometime, and in talking with people I have never heard a story of anyone getting injured, mugged, robbed, or otherwise upset.

Do you all think this phenomenon is strange? Would you participate as a driver or passenger in your area if the Casual Commute existed where you are?

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Cayman S – A Six Cylinder Symphony

The same sort of thing happens at the Pentagon. However, they're not quite as polite about what they call the "casual commuters". At the Pentagon, these commuters are called "slugs", and they wait in the "slug line" at the outer corner of one of the parking lots. There are different "slug lines" depending on the general area the "slug" is going.

When I was going down there on a regular basis, I used to take Metro and the shuttle buses, but I always wondered about how such a bizarre system could exist. Now, I know that it's more common than I thought....

All fun and games until someone gets, well... you know, they never caught the Zodiac Killer. I'm jus' sayin'.

So to answer the question: I think it's naive, and I'd be way too creeped out to use it. But then I moved from SFBA to Brooklyn, where body parts wash up on the beaches. Often. Makes you readjust your perceptions a bit.

It's been going on in the Washington, DC area (mostly northern VA) for some time. Local Government tried to shut it down a couple of years ago and there was a general rebellion. So it still works fine and no problems that I've heard.

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Robert

I've never heard of this, I must admit my first reaction to this was, "are you tree huggers freaking crazy getting into a car with a total stranger or allowing a total stranger to get in your car? Didn't anyone see the Hitchhiker?"

However, I have looked over at the HOV lane many times while sitting in bumper to bumper traffic and wished I had someone with me to allow me access to the speedy HOV lane.

I admit, it sounds like you guys in the SF area have a good thing going, and good for you for being such friendly, outgoing neighbors to your fellow citizens. I live in Texas and I thought we were a generous, hospitable group, but I don't think this would work in Houston. My hats off to you!

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Meet my Mistress...
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My Porsche Cars

2007 Cayman S
2006 Cayenne S Titanium Edition
1982 944 (Amoung first shipment to come to US; number 6 off the boat)

I personally would not be jumping in a car or picking some random up. But here in NJ, I have heard of it happening. Although, I'm not sure why. The HOV lanes here don't move much faster than the normal lanes. Alternate routes are always more effective.

My passionately left-leaning friend was a die-hard casual commuter. Until he was broad-sided in his Subaru by an uninsured motorist in SF. A guy ran a red light and plowed into him. Not here legally. No license. Pretty typical in CA.

Each of my friend's three granola munching passengers sued him. They all had "soft tissue" injuries. His insurance paid the first $300k. The next $200k came out of his house, which he had to sell. Now he has a $250k judgement outstanding for the last bit. He is paying $4000 a month to pay it off. Half his take-home pay.


The kicker? The girl in the passenger seat is now a full time activist for "immigrant rights", now that she doesn't have to work.

Just don't forget that YOU are financially responsible for anyone you pick up. Review your insurance. Once they run through your coverage, they will come after you if you have any assets.

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2007 Speed Yellow Cayman GT 2.7 (retired)
2008 Guards Red Cayman GT 3.4
"Carpe Cayman"

While that is very true..why didnt your friend sue the uninsured motorist?

Then again..if he was uninsured he probably didnt' have anything to give?

Sucks for your buddy. I raised my coverage on the Porsches since you know if you get in an accident and they see you driving a Porsche, they know you have money and will come after you.

And the driver was illegal, what could you possibly get from them?

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My Porsche Cars

2007 Cayman S
2006 Cayenne S Titanium Edition
1982 944 (Amoung first shipment to come to US; number 6 off the boat)

Is he still passionately left-leaning after this? This sounds like a textbook mugging-by-reality.

And in Florida. Personal experience speaking. Much worse outcome.



Sufferin' succotash!


And if I were your friend I would have preemptively liquidated and moved my assets to the Cayman Islands (heh heh) and fled the jurisdiction. Seriously.

Ahh..well you didnt throw in that part! =P

Yes..illegal drivers suck. My first car, I was hit by a drunk driver on Christmas Eve. The car was stolen. The owner of the car had no insurance. The driver of the stolen car has no insurance and was illegal as well. Boy did that suck. And worst part is my insurance rates go up because some drunk illegal thief plowed into me.

Dave,

You beat me to it. The safety factor pales in comparison to the liability factor. You can't even carry a waiver to have people sign because you can't be released from liability for an event that has not yet happened. That's why all of these road rally, ski area, skate park waivers are worthless. They are just there to make people think they can't sue. Your friends story is all too common and unfortunately not to the taste of most news broadcasts, so you wont likely hear about it.

As a young 16 year old driver, I picked up 2 girls in a rain storm after school that I thought were friends of my then girlfriend. Turns out I didn't know them, but they were glad to be out of the rain and I was glad because they were cute. Being unexperienced, I ended up hydroplaning and rear ending the person in front of me who slammed on their brakes for a yellow light. It was an expensive lesson in both hydroplaning and why you don't pick up hitchhikers. My parents never told me how much they actually ended up being out of pocket on the deal (the girls sued, and were fine at the scene. One had a dad that was an attorney), but I know whatever it was was too much and due to my stupidity. Even today, picking up a hitchhiker is not covered in the Good Sammaritan law. So, Yellowbird, is it strange? Well, yeah, but it also is bad financial responsibility (unfortunately).