Today the rush hour begins for many before four o’clock in the morning and ends sometime after eight or nine o’clock” at night, says veteran WTOP Traffic Reporter Bob Marbourg. “In 1980 we had two rush hours a day and each rush hour was two hours long. metro region consistently ranks near the top of national lists of areas with the worst traffic. The process is repeated in reverse to get home. Passengers are dropped off at designated areas. collect slugs who wait in line for rides. metro area, slugs begin gathering before dawn at nearly two dozen locations, including commuter parking lots along Virginia’s Interstate 95 corridor.ĭrivers wanting to use HOV lanes to access destinations in or close to D.C. This particular lot has multiple destinations: Pentagon Foggy Bottom at the Metro station between 23rd and I Street 20th Street & L Crystal City 14th and Constitution L’Enfant Plaza 18th Street and Rosslyn near the Key Bridge. Slugs listen for destinations to be called out at a Springfield/Burke slug lot in Virginia. There’s no money exchanged between the drivers and the riders and it works for my schedule,” says Nelson, who slugs from Woodbridge, Virginia, to the Pentagon, then takes Metrorail into downtown D.C.Īfter Heather Maki began slugging to work, her journey from Burke to Rosslyn became a reliable 20 minutes, compared to an unpredictable journey of “an hour to an hour and a half taking bus and Metrorail - depending on traffic and delays on the Blue Line, which were almost every day,” she says. In San Francisco, the same method is called “casual carpooling.” Houston, like D.C., uses “slugging.” The trend has popped up in some other U.S. ![]() And many slugs and casual carpoolers are proud to be part of a grassroots effort consisting of people helping people in such an independent way. People choosing to slug find it gets them to work quicker than driving solo or using public transportation. Shaffer says she “loves the HOV lanes when I have enough people” to use them. “I don’t think I would do it - but if it works for some people, I’m all for it,” says Aileen Shaffer, of Bethesda. You don’t know the creeps that are out there.” The idea of a daily commute that involves sharing a car with strangers “I think is incredibly creepy,” says Margie, of Gaithersburg, Maryland. “Slugs” wait at a designated spot and grab a ride with drivers who need extra passengers to use the HOV lanes. The idea is to get passengers and drivers to work faster using High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes. region, even though some people might find it odd. But slugging - commuting via an organized hitchhiking system - is popular in the D.C. ![]() If you’ve never heard of the term, you’re probably shaking your head at this point. That’s what I have to do to get around,” Nelson says. “You’d be amazed what you have to do to survive in this area. WASHINGTON - Brittne Nelson is a senior researcher at AARP - and a slug. Business & Finance Click to expand menu.
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