Slugging Statistics

I was trying to find a picture of an ad that I saw on the side of a Metro bus for slugging (Sidenote: I think that's hilarious. They're supporting a different form of commuting that's free and doesn't benefit them? I couldn't find a picture of it so I'll have to do some scouring on the road if traffic is bad one day) and I came across this slugging thread: http://www.city-data.com/forum/northern-virginia/855393-have-you-tried-slugging-do-you-3.html.

This is the excerpt that I found interesting:

"Total persons using the HOV lanes are 52,600 in the 6:30-9:30 a.m. time frame. In comparison, Metrorail carried 41,300 passengers across the cordon and VRE carried 4,310 passengers. The remaining roadways to the core area carry 87,280 people in 80,000 autos and 4,400 bus passengers during the 6:30-9:30 a.m. time period.

The Shirley Highway HOV facility is the best example in the region of a successful HOV operation. From 6:30-9:30 a.m. in 2002, the two HOV lanes carried a total of 31,650 people in 8,635 vehicles, compared to the four conventional lanes which carried 23,510 people in 21,310 vehicles. The Blue and Yellow lines of the Metrorail service in this corridor carried 16,700 people in the same time period.

That's an average of 3.7 people per vehicle in the HOV lanes, and 1.1 people per vehicle in the regular lanes."

 In summary, in 2002 the two HOV lanes stats from 6:30-9:30am on I-395 (Shirley Highway) were as follows:

HOV: 31,650 people in 8,635 vehicles
Regular lanes: 23,510 people in 21,310 vehicles.

That would be why the regular 395 lanes are usually so much more packed than the HOV lanes. Captain Obvious? Maybe. Still an interesting stat. And I'm not really a big stat person. My number of strike-outs in college was too far above what I'd have liked for me to be one. 

Slugging Success

Since I've gotten my route down, slugging has been working even better for me. It only takes me about 4-5 minutes to get to the Pentagon in the afternoon leaving Crystal City to pick up slugs, and that's just because of stoplights and the traffic cops at the Pentagon. Then it usually takes me about 15-20 minutes to get back to the slug lot once I pick up slugs. I'm usually only on the HOV lanes for about 6-8 minutes. Sometimes it seems longer because of the distance I'm covering in that short time, but typically I am going 60-70 mph on the HOV lanes (it's ok, Dad, even though I know you aren't reading this, the speed limit is 65).

Seemed fitting.

Once I exit the HOV lane, it only takes about 10 minutes to get back to the slug lot because I take the Parkway instead of Old Keene Mill Road. OKM road in the afternoon is seriously painful. The Parkway doesn't get bad until right after the exit that I take to drop off slugs, so it goes much more quickly than OKM. I feel like I have inside info knowing this, because I think about 90% of the slug drivers going to Rolling Valley lot take OKM road in the afternoon. If you suggest this to the riders, they are usually more than happy about it, and is another way to achieve "prototype slug driver" status.

A couple days ago, I hit every light, picked up slugs immediately at the Pentagon, and traffic was great on the HOV lane. I think it took me maybe 22 minutes to get home. It was heavenly. That used to be the amount of time it took me to walk down to the slug line in DC. Seriously, sometimes it's the little things that get you through the day.

Prototype Slug Driver

My older brother (check out his awesome blog here) commented on one of my blog posts asking if any of my passengers had complained about my "erratic use of the gas and brake pedals yet." Good one, brother. 

But then I started thinking about it and I used to hate slugging with drivers who would speed up in traffic just to slam on their brake .8 seconds later, or change lanes like it was their job only to get nowhere further than the car next to them originally. There were lots of other more quirky traits that made it annoying to ride with certain people, and I would kind of sigh when I saw their car pull up for me to get into.

So when I picked up slugs for the first few times, I was pretty paranoid. Ok I won't lie, I still am pretty paranoid about my driving when I pick up slugs. It makes you really conscious of all the little bumps you can feel in your car, and exactly how hard you're pressing on the gas or when you let up on the gas, and so forth. I basically want to be the best driver they've ever ridden with. Not only in terms of driving ability, but cool-ness, if you will. Yes, I'm basically 16 years old and I want to be the cool driver that everyone likes!

I always ask the riders if they're too hot or too cold to let me know, try to be polite, keep my music at a normal level, or I'll ask where the first people in line in the afternoon are going because I will go to either slug lot in Springfield and I want to be fair. I also secretly pray that my passengers like country music because then I really have an in as the cool driver. It makes me feel somewhat lame when I realize how much I want to be liked by these strangers, but I do. I guess just because I always had my favorite drivers and who doesn't want to be liked?

CC Walker-Talker

I picked up slugs both this morning and yesterday morning. It's been reliable for me in the morning lately, and I definitely prefer picking up slugs and getting on the HOV lane to sitting in the crawling traffic.

Yesterday I actually had riders that were going to Crystal City. Up until then, each time I picked up slugs in the morning I was dropping them off at the Pentagon. I'll pull up and say Crystal City or Pentagon, because Crystal City riders are kind of hit or miss to find and are rarer than Pentagon riders. I was glad I finally got some CC riders because it's less out of my way and the traffic at the HOV exit is much better once you split off from the Pentagon drivers and go to the right instead of sitting in the line that turns left. I did end up going out of my way to drop them off a little further into CC than where my parking garage is. But I kind of felt like that was me "giving back" again as a former-passenger because I've had drivers that have gone a little bit out of their way so that they could drop me off closer to work, and it's just nice. Plus I had no idea where the "normal" drop-off for CC was, so I just went with the flow.

Today I went back to the Pentagon to drop slug off, and one of my riders was definitely a talker. Not to say that I mind, because it usually makes the time go faster and I like meeting new people and socializing, anyways. But it does depend on the person. Sometimes as a driver (or even as a passenger before) I just wanted the other people in the car to be quiet for one reason or another. If it gets to that point it's probably because they are obnoxious or annoying, because ask B, I like to talk. All of my afternoon slugs have been quiet and I just play my country music and tell myself if they don't like it, oh well.

I found out this guy usually goes to CC but just that day he had to go to the Pentagon. So I'm sure I'll be seeing him again. I heard parts of his life story, we talked about slugging patterns and odd slugging stories, and he asked about my job, etc. The normal traffic conversations, discussing the new building off 395 that has no commuting plan whatsoever and is going to be a massive headache when workers are transitioned there, the usual slug convos. It did make time go faster and he didn't question the status of my university or anything like that. (My last "talker" asked me if Penn was a real Ivy league school or a fake one, because he thought it was a fake one.  And was I sure it was a real one? Well, it's not as GOOD as the other ones, right? I should have said, we're the party school Ivy, and left it at that.) The ride took about thirty minutes total, so not too bad.

I'd seen that guy before when I used to be a passenger, and just from standing in line I knew he was a talker. So I knew what to expect when he came over to my car. I don't know names so I'll dub him CC walker-talker. Apparently he walks back and forth between the Pentagon and CC a lot, whether to the Pentagon slug lot in the afternoon or if he can't get a ride to Crystal City in the morning. It's not far, and I'm pretty sure a lot of people do that because the Pentagon slug lot is just easier to get rides to and from.

Busted

My friend and former coworker, H we'll call her, sent me a link today to an article about cops having an increase in HOV violation busts in the area. (http://www.wtop.com/?nid=41&sid=2421793). The subject title of her email was "because you are the maven of all things commute related." Made me laugh. Then I thought about it and I laughed some more because how did I become the person who everyone comes to with their commuting stories. It's kind of funny. (Thanks H.) But I get pretty into it when people complain about commuting in this area. And I can usually relate. Enter slugging sales pitch here. I should really be their marketing cover girl. If "slugging" was a company. Or a formal thing at all.

Regarding the HOV violations and the cops being on increased patrol of the HOV lanes, it's definitely true. I see them out there all the time. I saw two cars pulled over this morning getting tickets for not having the necessary number of people in their car.

To ride on the HOV lane, there must be 3 people in your car. Thre are a couple of exceptions:

1. If you are a cab, you only need two riders.

2. If your car is a hybrid, you can ride on the HOV lanes regardless of how many people are in your car.

3. Motorcycles are also allowed on the HOV lanes.

It's pretty often, too, that the cops will just stand at the exits from the HOV lane and check out each car as it goes by to make sure they aren't violating the HOV restrictions. Personally, I would never take that risk because as you can see in the article, the fines are pretty lofty:

First offense is a $125 fine;

Second offense is a $250 fine, plus three points;

Third offense is a $500 fine, plus three points;

Fourth offense is a $1,000 fine, plus three points

And with my luck, the one time I would try to break the rule the cops would be there waiting for me. Whenever I see people pulled over for that violation on the HOV lanes I wonder what they were thinking and if it's their first offense. No way I'd want to pay $250 after already being caught for that once. I hope they had somewhere really important to be and were just desperate in the horrible 395 afternoon traffic.

But I find myself being biased and first thinking that they probably do it all the time and just never thought they'd get caught. Then I get mad because those people add to the HOV lane clogs that happen occasionally. Maybe if those people weren't breaking the ruuuule we'd always be going 75 mph on the HOV lane instead of having some delays.

So I don't feel bad when I see them pulled over by the cops. Not fun for them though. Especially if they've made it all the way to the HOV exit and they're probably thinking to themselves, "haha didn't get caught again!" That's kind of humorous of the cops, actually. Let them enjoy the ride then slap them with the fine. Touche.

Getting Situated

I've been on a brief hiatus from blogging because:

a. I was testing out the commute last week to see which routes worked best, the time differences, etc. 

b. last week was shorter due to the holiday 

and 

c. on the days I did try to pick up slugs in the afternoon last week Crystal City one-way streets, my lack of knowledge of the area, and my lack of patience got the best of me and I ended up either taking back roads home or sitting in 395 traffic. 

A: I'm getting a better mental map for the area over there as well as for the parking garage which is under construction and has minimal directions regarding where the exits lead to until it tosses you out onto a one-way street heading in the opposite direction you want to be going, of course. I've found a good route to take to pick up slugs, as well as a good route to take for days when traffic isn't bad or days when I leave early, etc. so I don't need to or can't pick up slugs. 

Time-wise, today it took me about 20 minutes from the time I picked up slugs to the time I dropped them off. I was probably only on the HOV lane for about 8 minutes. It was glorious. And door-to-door it was about 40 minutes which can be shortened if I hit the street lights at the right time, and get used to the commute so I'm sure of where I'm going. It's definitely longer door-to-door not picking up slugs and taking regular 395, as well as way more painful. It may seem weird having strangers in your car, but I'd rather do that than stop and go 150+ times on the way home with a max speed of 20pm on 395. Like I said, I have a lack of patience especially with traffic.

C: I don't really want to talk about, but I will.  After sitting in the 395 traffic going home once already last week, I knew I wanted to get into the habit of picking up slugs at the Pentagon instead. So I set out to do that one day last week and I ended up on a street I hadn't been on in the area and the street signs up ahead were hard to read until it was too late. I ended up on Route 1 South and would have to cross over like four lanes of traffic immediately to get back to where I wanted to be, so I just said screw it and kept going South. I had another similar experience the next day, where I ended up getting frustrated and just getting on 395 South. Why was this so difficult--go North from Crystal City and it's hard to miss the Pentagon, right?

Friday I was so annoyed with my commute from the day before that I decided to just bail on attempting to pick up slugs and I figured the traffic wouldn't be too bad since it was Friday and a lot of people don't even go into work. It wasn't as bad as the other days but it still wasn't great.

But today, I wasn't going to sit in that 395 traffic. I was determined not to be an idiot for a third time attempting to pick up slugs. I had picked up slugs once the week before from the Pentagon, so I really don't know why this whole parking garage change was messing me up. I knew what street I needed to be on to get to the Pentagon, the parking garage spitting me out in a different location was just throwing me off. So I managed to find my way back to the exit of the garage that I was familiar with, and lo and behold, it solved all my problems. Thank. Goodness.