ON THE CUTTING EDGE: Slugs Save Solo Drivers From Commuting At A Snail’s Pace
Commuters in
Each workday, members of a unique breed of commuters known as “slugs” line up, sometimes at regular bus stops, sometimes at special areas. …
The slugs constitute a decades-old system of casual car-pooling that moves thousands of workers from the suburbs to the city, with no money changing hands and no official government involvement. …
Slugging started in the early 1970s in the Washington area, soon after a main commuter route instituted rush-hour express lanes for vehicles carrying two or more people. Solo drivers would troll local bus stops before getting on the highway, hoping to pick up a rider and get in the express lane.
The riders became known as slugs, in a nod to the fake coins fare-beating riders would use on public buses. …
A whole slug culture has evolved, with its own etiquette, security, ratings, and even poetry. At a well-used Web site, slugs pour our (sic) their hearts about scary drivers, dirty cars, snoring fellow slugs and other annoyances.
Among the rules: Slugs are not supposed to talk during the ride, but if they do, such topics as religion, politics and sex are taboo. No money or gifts exchange hands. Cellphone conversations are kept to a minimum. No smoking or eating by either the driver or the slug. Slugs don't fiddle with the radio, heat, air conditioning or windows. And a slug-line never leaves a woman standing alone.
Slugging does not require much in the way of infrastructure, equipment or expenditure of public monies, and The Stiletto wishes more cities and suburbs would encourage the practice, particularly where mass transit service is spotty or nonexistent.
Slugging is a faster, safer, more reliable way of getting between work and home, particularly if one’s route requires changing buses, having to wait 15 minutes or half an hour for a bus on each leg of a connecting route and having to wait at a desolate bus stop at the side of the road when it’s dark outside.
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