Sneaky Slug and the Mystery Lot

I was picking up slugs at the Pentagon this afternoon, and I already had one lady in my back seat who was going to RV so I told the next man that approached my window where we were headed. He then asked, "Old Keene Mill?" which I took as needing clarification as to where the slug lot I mentioned was--perhaps he didn't know the name of the lot he went to? So I said yep, and he got in the car. Two minutes later as we were getting on the HOV lane he said, "Actually, I get out a little bit earlier on Old Keene Mill road at Daventry."

Little background here. Daventry is a completely separate slug lot, much farther down Old Keene Mill closer to 395 than Rolling Valley. Oh, and basically nobody goes there. Especially in the afternoon from the Pentagon. I rarely see riders asking for a ride to Daventry in the afternoon at the Pentagon, but when I do see them they're always desperate and often end up getting dropped off in some random location.

Map of the Parkway with a star where the Sydenstricker Lot is 

located.

I looked at him and said, "Umm..I take the Parkway exit, I don't go down Old Keene Mill." He then proceeded to say, "Well that's why I said OKM for clarification." We resolved the situation by him offering to have me let him out on the side of the Parkway. "We both win!" He says. Oh yes, we both win. I now have to pull over, on the shoulder of the Parkway to let you out because you sneaked your way into my car without telling me where you were really going. Win, win, pal. 

You're probably thinking, why didn't I just go down Old Keene Mill, instead? 1. OKM traffic is seriously insane. So many traffic lights and I don't think any of them are synced. One time I sat at the first traffic light after exiting 395 for 10 minutes. In that time, I can be all the way down the Parkway and at the slug lot. So yeah, I just stick with the Parkway.

By taking the Parkway I can also drop slugs off at either the Rolling Valley or Sydenstricker lot, because Sydenstricker is right off the Parkway, and it's just faster to get to Rolling Valley that way. So when people walk up to my car at the Pentagon, I tell them I can go to either, or if there's a line of people when I show up I'll ask where the first two people in line are going because it's really kind of sporadic as to which lot has more drivers on a given day. (RV is actually a little bit out of the way because of a light I have to sit at exiting the lot, and it's a couple streets past my house, but I feel their pain having been an RV slug before...)

Back to the real story. 2. Even if I had conceded and gone down OKM so as to drop him off on my way, it's still hard to pull over where Daventry is and get back into traffic because you kind of just pull over into a compact bus lane. So it's somewhat rude to jump into someone's car without letting them know you aren't actually going to the slug lot that they mentioned. Work that stuff out before you get in the car. Sneaky, sneaky Daventry-man. And 3. I had a softball game to get to so I couldn't really spare the time to go out of my normal way, since I was already a little behind schedule, too.

As soon as he got out of the car, the lady in the back seat (who happened to ride with me in the morning, as well--I always find it humorous when that happens) and I vented about how that had been not only rude by dangerous to ask me to do that. Then she said, "Well, remember him for next time so you don't pick him up." Done and Done. Good bye, Mr. Sneaky Daventry Slug.

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.

S the Good Samaritan

Sadly, I don't work with S (P.S. check out her blog!) anymore so we don't walk to the slug line together anymore, either. But she told  me about her slugging experience today because it had to do with the line I used to go to. It used to take longer for my line to get rides than the line S was in. Our slug lot is huge and there's a wide array of destinations that the drivers go to from there in the morning, mostly in DC. However, in the afternoon standing at the slug line, there's two lines. The other line gets more rides because it's closer to the exit from the HOV lanes (see this post) and I think drivers want to get the strangers out of their car sooner rather than later, plus they often have other places to go in the afternoon than all the way to our slug lot, about 4 miles down the road.

Anyways, for whatever reason, there's less drivers that go to my slug lot in the afternoon from DC than there appear to be for this other slug lot. I know for a fact that some drivers who leave from my slug lot, take riders back to the other slug lot in the afternoon. I've seen some of the drivers as they call out the name of the other slug lot and recognize them as drivers that leave from mine in the morning.

So it's a running joke between S and I, when we show up to the afternoon slug line and my line is short and hers is extremely long. When she looks at me with sad, puppy face, I just yell back to her 20 people away, that she'll still be in a car before me, so she should be quiet. And it usually happened that way. (It should be noted that it wasn't this long of a wait every day, but it was always the other line that went faster than ours. It was like we were the last ones picked in kickball, sometimes.)

This picture was just funny. 

So finally, to the point of the story: S was driving by the afternoon slug line about two minutes before 6pm when the HOV lanes open to everyone, and she saw two slugs standing in "my" line still waiting. She decided to pick them up, the Good Samaritan that she is, because she knew the pain I sometimes went through as a Rolling Valley rider. When they got in, she told them that her friend goes to RV and she knows it's always harder to get a ride. They replied, "Oh, so you've heard our RV sob stories. Tell your friend, thank you. We really appreciate this ride."

Slugging is a very humbling way to commute. You really are eternally grateful when you get a ride after waiting for a while, or when it's really hot (or cold) out, or you really have somewhere you need to be. Some days are better than others, so it makes it all worthwhile, but on days like this where the riders were still waiting for a ride at 5:58pm, the gratitude oozes out of you. And oh yeah, it's free. Did I mention that?

Supply and Demand

Slugging is just like any product: it relies on supply and demand. There is a tangible shift in power from days when there is a long line of cars and you're one of few people looking for a ride, to days when you're in a long line of people waiting and there's not many cars available. 

When you walk up and there's a long line of people and not many cars, you're way more susceptible to taking a ride that will drop you off eight blocks away. When you're one of fewer people in line and there's a lot of cars, you can be more picky, so that you get a car that takes you exactly where you want to go. 

On days when there's more cars than people, or the cars are going places that the people in line have turned down, you'll see some drivers calling out their windows to see where people are going. They'll often change their mind and tell you that they'll take you to your location because they've been waiting a while. They may reach their head out and just say, "Hey, where....ARE you going?" 

Desperation reaches both sides of slugging. Often you'll see slugs in line, suddenly sigh and walk towards one of the cars in line that they previously turned down if they've waited too long or think they'll be late for work. I try to hold out until it's really been too long, before I accept something outside of my 4-block range. Because I know that with my luck, if I accept a ride from a car going farther away than I'd normally accept because I'm tired of waiting, 2 seconds later a car going to my exact location will show up. I prefer to wait. 

S knows all about this theory of mine, and one day she ran into me on the way to work when I was coming from a bit farther away. She just started laughing and said, "I see you accepted a ride over here, huh?" Yes, I'm lazy. But the theory usually works in my favor.

My Miss List

While I am excited to shave some time off my commute and get a change of scenery, there are some things that I will miss about slugging in DC:

1. The Walk:

The walk down to the slug line is actually kind of nice. Unless I'm in a huge rush, it's raining, or it's extremely hot out. But you know...otherwise. I usually walk pretty fast so it's a little exercise after sitting in front of a computer all day, and S usually walks with me so we make jokes and talk about the day. We're basically a couple. An odd couple. If opposites attract...
2. The Buildings:

Checking out all the old, historic, important buildings that I pass to and from work. I didn't used to really look, but then someone asked me where some important building was and I honestly had no idea. So I started looking around more and taking in the scenery, and I really love some of the architecture.

3. The W:

I know the one above this is about buildings, but I will specifically miss walking past the Willard Hotel on 13th and Pennsylvania every day. It's just so pretty. I want to go inside and wander around or just stand outside and stare at it and wait for Albert Haynesworth dare to come back, or someone more important pull up in a black sedan or limo. I always see important-looking cars around it, and cop cars, and I just want to walk up and ask who's staying there. I know Beyonce stayed there last year. Sigh.

4. My Carpool:

Occasionally I ride with a carpool in the afternoon when our schedules match up. Sometimes it's nice to get picked up a few blocks from my office so that I don't have to risk it being a bad day at the slug line and have to wait there for 20 minutes to get a ride. And they're pretty entertaining, too. Yesterday when she picked me up she greeted me with, "Hello sunshine!" How can you not like that?

5. My favorite morning drivers:

I've become attached to some of the drivers for my location. Not all of them, but my select favorites I will miss. It's a comfort-zone thing.

6. No Metro:

I hate the Metro, especially during rush hour. This just means I'll probably end up becoming the driver sooner rather than later. But we will see.

DC sluggin'

Next week, I will be starting a new job in Crystal City. Don't worry! I can still slug! (If this is the first and only post you have read, refer to this post to understand).That's literally everyone's first or second concern when they hear my new job is in Crystal City. "But...can you still slug?" It's typically genuine concern (although one of my coworkers had a more sarcastic tone to it...he is skeptical of slugging and shall remain nameless) and I choose to interpret their concern to mean that they love reading my blog so much that their day would be less entertaining without it. Or maybe they just enjoy overhearing my morning story time with S where we exchange any funny slugging stories across cubicles loud enough for the entire sparsely populated office to hear. Since I only have like 8 followers. Or maybe modesty isn't my best trait and they are just concerned about me being able to continue slugging for financial reasons. Since right now I pay nothing for my commute. Nah, genuine concern for my finances? I'm going with the first reason.

To summarize, yes I will be slugging still. The only difference is in the afternoon, it doesn't appear that drivers from Crystal City go to my slug lot where I park in the morning. So while I can slug from the morning lot to Crystal City, I will need to metro to the Pentagon and slug from there in the afternoon. Not a big deal. And I'm sure I will still shave at least 15 minutes off of my commute since I won't be sitting in any 14th street traffic! Perhaps I'll transition into the slug driver in the near future...that'd be interesting.

Car-sick, tired, but still laughing (Thanks Tina Fey)

I stepped into my office building feeling nauseaus this morning after riding with one of the worst lane-changer-slug-drivers to date. Not only did I feel sick, but it was one of those mornings where traffic was backed up from the start on the HOV lanes, and then without any explanation as to why we had just crawled for 8 miles, opened up and was smooth sailing the rest of the way into DC. I hate that. There was no accident. No cop sitting there causing everyone to panic and immediately slow down 20 miles per hour. No huge merging issues. Inexplainable backed-up traffic.

So I was pretty tired when I got into the building. Our concierge noticed, as it would have been hard not to since I stepped through the door mid-yawn, and made some comment I can't remember because I was still waking up. Basically he just laughed at me and teased me saying he hoped I didn't fall asleep at my desk today. He's a fun guy. Always smiling. Shout out to him for always making the start of our day pleasant even when we feel like walking zombies (eh, eh, B? little zombies shout out, too?). He slugs in to work, too, so he knew what I'd just sat in on 95. I found out later that I looked so tired that when S walked in this morning, and told him she was tired, his reply was, "Oh, no, you're not tired! Anna...now SHE was tired!" He likes to stir it up.

Anyways. I still felt a little nauseaus from the car ride, so I got a soda (Coke-Zero Cherry, of course, because Coke-Zero alone tastes like absolute crap) in an attempt to make my stomach feel better. Did the car ride really make me that nauseaus you ask? Let's see here. The driver was clearly agitated that traffic was so backed-up, explaining that he usually comes in much earlier, and attempted to change lanes every 30 seconds, only to make no progress. Because traffic was going no where. Obviously. At one point we were stopped because of a school traffic cop, and at the last second he tried to get into the left lane and ended up with a slight tail end still in the right lane. Definitely necessary. So we continued this all the way up the road to the HOV lanes, and well into the HOV lane traffic, as well. Left. Right. Left. Right. Sighhhh.

"Ch-ch-ch-chhhh-chhhh." He kept making this noise as he changed lanes and asked if traffic was usually this bad at this time, because again, he didn't usually go in this late. I assured him that no, even at this wildly late hour of 7:45am traffic was not usually like this, as I glanced sideways at him every time he made that weird, "Chh-chhh," noise. What was that?


Oh and did I mention it smelled weird in his car? I stuck my nose in my Tina Fey autobiography, "Bossypants," hoping to take my mind off of all this and get a few laughs. In the past week while reading this book in the car, I've had more than a few moments where I couldn't stop myself from laughing out loud. Her renditions of her first job, honeymoon, and what it's like on a photoshoot are hilarious and so sarcastic, I love it. I was hoping that this morning would be no different so that I could make him equally uncomfortable with my somewhat suppressed and seemingly-random laughing as his odd noises and obsessive lane-changing were making me. (This did happen. And he didn't seem phased.)

All in all, pretty not-fun ride this morning. Mildly uncomfortable. Never seen that guy before, and I hope he reverts to his normal 6am shift so that I don't ride with him again. The only big plus was that I did get dropped off right in front of my office. Success.

Slugging Etiquette Rule #2

Rule #2: A slug does not ask to change the radio station or adjust the heat or air conditioning.

This is another main rule listed on the slugging website that I've seen both followed and completely disregarded. The first part of the rule regarding the radio station, in my opinion, is a given. It's their car, their radio, and you should just listen to what they have on without complaining.

The lady who was telling stories about That Guy told me one about another lady that she is actually friends with, but can be a bit overwhelming to deal with sometimes, telling her (not asking) to turn down her radio. The driver is someone I enjoy riding with, but her music is a bit out there, and definitely not my type. I have put my headphones in before when I was in her car, because it was extra loud that day, but usually I just deal with it. This woman actually said, "Turn down your music!" The driver was rather put off by the nature of her friend's request, and That Guy happened to be in her car as well. When she responded to her friend, she said, "For YOU, I will," as if to send a message to the guy in the passenger seat.

I've never heard anyone else tell a driver to change their radio station or turn it down, and I have witnessed a wide variety of radio choices by the drivers. One driver I like to call Spanish Reggaeton because the couple of times I rode with him in the morning he was blasting it on his radio. 8am, man. Then there's Republican Guy who I like to ride with because I think the morning talk show is hilarious, but I'm sure not everyone that rides with him likes listening to it as it's usually pretty controversial conversations. I've ridden with drivers that play classical music, NPR radio, hot 99.5, and even audio books. The audio book lady was particularly uncomfortable because it was some sort of romantic novel. Very awkward. I definitely put my headphones in during that car ride, but the volume on her radio was up there so it was hard to shut it out.

The second part of the rule regarding the temperature in the car is a separate subject. Often the drivers will inquire as to whether it's too hot or too cold in their car, out of courtesy. Unless it's at an extreme one way or the other, I just reply with, "I'm fine." But I have ridden in a few cars either in the summer when they didn't have air conditioning, or the winter when they were absolutely blasting the heat, where I've said otherwise or tried to make my discomfort noticable to get them to adjust the temperature.

One driver didn't have AC in his car, and my friend, V, was riding in the same car as me that day. He had the windows rolled down going about 80 mph on the HOV lanes and the wind was blowing in our faces. V finally spoke up and asked him if he could roll the windows up, and that's when he told her he didn't have AC. She turns him down now as a result of numerous bad experiences in his car and she's never turned down a driver before. I think if it's really that cold or hot in their car, it's acceptable to politely ask if they would mind turning the air up or down, or rolling up the windows.

Most people won't be offended or appalled that you asked if you ask to turn the temperature up or down politely, but if you do it in a rude way that's where it could burn some slugging bridges. And it's not the same as telling them to change their radio station, so this rule is really two rules in one.

On the Flip Side

On Friday my friend was in town to check out some graduate schools in DC and was staying with me, so I decided to drive in to work for a couple of reasons.

1. I didn't want to overwhelm her with the concept of slugging at 7am on Friday morning. I planned to pick S up right before we got on the HOV lane to make the three-person requirement and to make S's commute in a bit easier, too.

2. I wasn't sure what time my friend would be done wandering DC and I wanted to be able to leave ASAP after she was done. Driving in would give me that opportunity, and I would just pick up a slug on the way home since S would still be working.

The morning went as planned. Traffic was really light since it was Friday, and we got S and made it into the city and parking garage in good time.

The afternoon was much more interesting. Little known fact: I hate driving in DC. Especially in rush hour when God knows who is going to change lanes at the last second and cut you off. I managed to pick my friend up in Dupont Circle after going around a couple of different circles multiple times. (Be quiet, B.) We proceeded to make it back past my office, and downtown towards the Washington Monument.

I had it all under control driving-wise, even though I was road-raging-it-up as cabs stopped abruptly and potholes popped up left and right. No almost-accidents, or anything. I got to the stoplight right before the slug line, and was all in place in the right lane. So proud of myself. Piece of cake. Then I see it--a car still parked in the right lane, and perfectly placed about ten feet in front of the beginning of the slug line. Great. I looked to my left to judge if I could gun it and beat the car next to me to change lanes briefly, pass the parked car and get back over. It was a van. No problem. My little Corolla could do it. (I just saw Fast Five last night, so I feel pretty lame right now.)

Of course another car was pulling in front of the parked car at the same time as me, and didn't move up very far, soI had very little space to pull over into. The tail end of my car sticking out more than I was comfortable with in DC rush hour traffic, so I was trying to get people in my car and get out as quickly as possible. I called out the window where I was going and said that I could take one or two, but that they'd have to move some of the stuff in my backseat over. The guy said, "Oh, that's ok," and just got in and didn't tell the guy behind him that I could take another.

So as he closed the door, the passenger seat window was still open and the next guy in the slug line yelled, "TAKE TWO NEXT TIME!" My road rage got the best of me and I instinctively yelled back, telling him to bite me in more or less words.

The guy who got into the car with me was someone I'd seen in line before, and had a good sense of humor. He kind of laughed and said something like, "Some people...". My defense is that I did try to get two riders. The guy didn't relay the information and I just wanted to get out of there before my left bumper got tweaked by another driver not paying attention. Poor communication between the slugs combined with DC driving anxiety caused me to break my own code of slugging, but that's ok because, as the rider I did pick up and my friend pointed out, the guy was a jerk so if I didn't want him in my car before, I didn't want him in my car after that anyways.

But don't worry, guy. Next time...I'll take two. Just not you.

Preserving the System

I was reminded today how a good amount of DC-Metro area workers have never even heard of slugging. It's always interesting to see people's reactions to the idea, and today I got the response, "That's ballsy!" I told the man that it was actually quite reliable and that I've only heard of one major incident which involved a driver speeding and making a rider uncomfortable enough to ask to be let out. It did give me a certain sense of pride though, seeing this man who looked like he could clearly hold his own saying he wouldn't even get in a stranger's car himself. Maybe I'm just crazier than him.

On some days if the line is long or it's extra hot out, I admit, I get pretty frustrated at the slug line. But typically and overall, it's very efficient, cost-effective, safe and entertaining. I'm definitely happy that I don't have to deal with the Metro at all, and the average door-to-door time is actually shorter than it would be if I were metroing, and on good days much, much shorter.

Another rider that I was in the car with last week was discussing the system with the driver, who he knew as a friend. What he said is something that I think most slugs would relate to:

"I could not believe this system existed when I started doing it so I never want to do anything to jeopardize the system."

This pertains back to my comments in the post about not breaking the rules and why most slugs wouldn't break the rules, such as driving through the parking lot catching people before they get to the line in order to bypass the line of cars. I would say most slugs want to preserve the system so that it continues being as effective as it is now, as this one slug pointed out. It may be "ballsy" and not everyone may feel comfortable with it which is fine, but once you've been slugging for a while you realize it's a whole community in itself with implicit rules that govern the system and keep it running smoothly.

Origination of the Term "Slugging"

There's not much written about slugging. Most of the information comes from the website www.slug-lines.com started by David LeBlanc who also wrote a book called "Slugging: The Commuting Alternative for Washington D.C." published in 1999. The website is very informative for slugs and gives news updates in case there are any changes made to the lots, etc.

According to his information, slugging actually started around 35 years ago after the HOV lanes were opened. It began with the HOV lanes and drivers who didn't have the required total 3 passengers to take the HOV lanes. They would drive by bus stops and offer rides to people in order to meet the requirement. Eventually some people decided to take the free ride even though it was being offered by a stranger, either due to long waits for the bus or perhaps the weather conditions influenced them. Word spread and eventually that's how slugging came about. Slugging is very much a word-of-mouth system and the origins are a bit vague being that there's no real government documentation regarding the beginning of slugging.

The origination of the term "slugging" is given on the website run by LeBlanc, and was apparently coined by bus drivers who were at first confused by the people standing in line at the bus stop who never actually took the bus. Since the riders were originally picked up from bus stops, and word began to spread that people could get free rides into DC, or mostly the Pentagon at that time, by waiting there, that's where the lines began. The bus drivers would pass by and stop because they saw people waiting, and the slugs would wave them away. The bus drivers eventually began to recognize who was a "real" bus rider and who wasn't and started to call them "slugs" because that was the term for fake bus tokens.

More to come on the history of slugging, but the origination of the term is one of the most frequently asked questions I get about slugging.

Oddball Slug Lot

S goes to a different slug lot than me, and their system is a little different. The lot she goes to is much smaller than the one I go to in the morning. Their lot is structured so that on one side of the lot is a line of people and cars that go over the 14th street bridge, and on the other side is a line that goes over the Memorial Bridge into DC. This is as opposed to both of the other lots I've gone to where everyone stands in one line, and all the cars are in one line corresponding to it. The benefits of this are that in case the driver changes their mind because of the lack of riders, or if the riders change their destination due to the lack of cars, they can adjust and won't have to change sides of the lot or anything.

It's also different from the lot I go to in that, some of the drivers get out of their car and approach the line of slugs to see where everyone's destination is and just wait there until they find two riders. That's very strange to me. Why would you want to get out of your car into the cold or heat to wait for riders when you could sit in your car and listen to the radio or something. Plus it just makes everything disorganized. It's hard to tell the difference between drivers and riders when you show up, so there's a lot more confusion created and clarification necessary. Seems less efficient.

The benefits of her lot are that all of the drivers go into DC so she doesn't have as wide a range of destinations to weed through (can be a down-side, too, but in our case it's a benefit) and that the lot is right next to the Mixing Bowl and the entry point for the HOV lane on 395. Half of the traffic that I sit in on my morning commute is getting to 395, so she is lucky to get on the HOV lanes basically right away after she gets into a car. Somehow, even though my morning lot is the largest one, there's always more drivers in the afternoon going to her lot, too. I think just because the drivers from my lot go to such a wide range of destinations as opposed to a few specific locations.

I'd go to her lot in the morning, but the traffic going that way from my house is ridiculous and the lot I go to is so close to my house. Plus as I like to tease S about, their system is the oddball out of all the lots so far as I've heard. Too weird for me, I think. She gets some good stories though, more to come from S.

Cutting in Line

My friend S who I have mentioned before also slugs into work, and happens to work with me as well. She told me about one of her mornings at the slug lot last week and it brings up another understood rule of slugging--one that's very tempting to break sometimes, especially on rainy days, and I admit I've broken a couple of times, too.

As she was walking up to her lot last week, a driver in a taxi cab* asked her where she was going. She said, "Over there," and pointed to the slug line. I laughed at her pleasant response to the man, as her tone clearly came across as 'do not disturb.' He clarified asking her where in DC she was headed, and she told him. He said he'd take her, and here's what's wrong with the situation: He wasn't behind the other drivers waiting his turn to pick up the riders in line, he was basically scavenging the lot for riders arriving at the lot to pick them up before they got to the line. In short, he was cutting. This really takes us back to our 2nd grade selves waiting in line for the water fountain after recess, I know. But slugging is a very polite system in theory and people that do this are often scoffed at by their fellow sluggers.

I've been on both sides of it. When you're standing there in line and waiting for cars to come it's very frustrating when you see a car swing around and pick up people walking to the slug line. Unless it's an organized carpool, it usually makes the people in line shake their heads or sigh, as they're left to wait for more cars as the people that just arrived at the lot get a ride immediately. There is another rule that says if the driver knows someone in line and yells out their name to see if they want to get in, they can get in. I haven't seen this happen at the lot I go to now, but I have seen it once or twice elsewhere. But that's different from skimming the parking lot to catch riders before they get to the line. In my experience though, even when I see drivers who know someone in line, they still follow the general protocol and take the first 2 or 3 riders, and then just say hello to their friend as they pass them.

When I used to go to a different lot in the morning, I had to walk alongside part of a neighborhood road to get to the lot, since the lot had minimal parking spots. There was one lady who lived in one of the houses nearby, who would drive around and ask where people were headed as they walked towards the lot. I tried to decline her request at first, because I knew it wasn't really fair to the people in line. The next time she asked I got in and felt kind of guilty as we drove past the lot and there were people waiting. I saw her pretty frequently, and one time she said she'd just give me a ride to the lot and if there were no cars I could ride with her. I ended up getting out of her car because the line of cars was so long when we pulled up. It got to the point though where we knew each other and if she had other people with her I didn't feel so bad about going with her. I only rode with her a couple more times, but that's actually how I met my first "slugging friend" who ironically drops her son off at my boyfriend's mother's house for daycare. Small world.

With all the variables of slugging protocol, I'd say in general there's certainly riders who have no remorse about breaking the understood rule that driver's shouldn't scoop up slugs without getting in line and will get right in without looking back. There's also occasions where some will take the opportunity when it's handed to them, but I think the majority of slugs would turn down a ride from a random driver offered in this manner out of courtesy to the other slugs and drivers. Maybe that's me being naive, but from what I've experienced, at least at the lot I go to in the morning, is that slugs have a certain courtesy for other slugs. The afternoon line is a whole different story...

*Taxi cabs only have to have one other person in their car to use the HOV lane.

Slugging Theories

I think I'm finally going to acknowledge the theory I have that if I arrive at the slug lot at 7:30am, there will be no cars pulling up going to my destination until about 7:45. Every time I show up at 7:30, I end up waiting until 7:45 anyways. I used to get there a little bit earlier and I could get a ride, so I think that if I showed up 5-10 minutes earlier perhaps there would be some cars for my destination. But 7:30 is the cutoff. That's why I started being lazy and leaving my house around 7:30-7:40. Getting there earlier didn't help, it just meant I had to stand around for 10-15 minutes. I think I'm going to try going a bit earlier if I can get myself out of my bed, and see if the pattern is true.

Regardless, the line was exceptionally long this morning, and I had to accept a ride a few blocks from my office. Really not a big deal. I'm not that lazy. I can walk a few blocks. Especially when it's nice in the morning. It's just so convenient to be dropped off right in front of your office. Spoiled, I know.

I rode with my carpool yesterday afternoon and noticed the slug line was crazy long then, as well. My friend went to the afternoon slug line yesterday, and told me that some fellow sluggers were discussing how the gas prices were influencing more people to start slugging. Makes sense. Gas prices are astronomical with no decline in sight, as far as I can tell. Watching your money flow out of your wallet as the gas tank creeps closer to empty as you sit in rush hour traffic on 395 can't be an optimistic start to your morning. With an increased amount of riders though, we need an increased amount of drivers.

Usually I've found the drivers are the ones who have their parking covered by their company, or have a unique schedule such that they need to drive in the morning in case they need to leave at an odd time in the afternoon. Some people also drive because they have to be somewhere at a certain time without fail and can't rely on the fate of the slug line getting them there on time. But mostly, it's the ones who have their parking paid for. Or don't mind paying for the absurd DC parking garage fees. "Early bird" fees, meaning you arrive before 9am (time varies with garage), are still ridiculous, ranging from $9-$25 in the 14 x 6 block area around my office. The Early Bird fee at my parking garage is $10, and that's one of the cheaper ones.

So while I'd love the independence that comes with being the driver in the slug lot, I like to leave that splurge for days like Federal Holidays when the roads are traffic-free.

People Patterns

Slugging makes my life more interesting. Every day there's something that happens at the slug lot or in the car I get in that morning that's worth repeating to my coworker. Not to mention the patterns you begin to notice, and the habits of the drivers that you recognize and ride with often.

A couple of days ago I was waiting in line in the afternoon for a car. A van pulled up and offered to take three of us, instead of the necessary two (which is always appreciated by the sluggers). The lady in front of me, who was larger than I but not huge--let's face it, I'm tiny--turned around and just looked at me. I looked into the car to try and figure out what she was trying to telepathically get across to me since she wasn't saying a word. "Ah, you don't want to get in the back seat? Ok...I'll get in." Still, no words. I squeezed into the back seat, to discover that the seat belt didn't work and the driver's child's obviously dirty clothes were back there with me. Great. Gross and unsafe. This was already one of the worst cars I've been in slugging and I've been slugging for over a year. I felt like I was on a bus, but oh well. I started playing games on my phone, then lo and behold the driver turns up the radio and starts blasting Dolly Parton. Does that seem like an oxymoron to anyone else? I almost said out loud, "are you kidding me?!" Instead I tried to suffer through it. I don't like Dolly Parton to begin with all that much, but to have her slow, droning song blaring in my ear since I'm right next to the speaker? Not enjoyable. I obviously texted my slugger friend and coworker to tell her of the absurdity. After five minutes I could take it no more, so I put my headphones in. I had to turn them up to full volume to drown out her twang, and I could still hear her behind my Keith Urban, "Put you in a song" (currently obsessed). Quite a ride home that was.

There's one driver that I usually look forward to riding with in the morning because he plays Chris Plante's morning talk show and it's pretty much where I play political catch-up. And, bonus, he drops me off right in front of my office. I call him Republican Dude.

Another lady that I ride with always plays morning modern gospel music, and often sings along. Pick your own music but when you start to sing along it gets a little weird. I think of her as Gospel Lady.

There's another guy I occasionally ride with in the morning that I like riding with for one reason, but prefer not to for another. He plays the Kane Morning Show which is always entertaining, but he drops me off five or six blocks away from my office. It's not a bad walk, I just prefer closer when it's below freezing in the winter. He's Mr. Kane show.

I like the familiarity of slugging, even though I don't know these people's real names. (I've only had one person ask what my name is and introduce themselves to me formally.) You recognize other people that go to the same location you go to, as well as where other people go. There's Crystal City rider, who always tries to get Pentagon drivers to change their mind. Then there's the lady who always talks in the car, even if the driver doesn't want to talk. It's really amusing seeing all of the different personalities, and recognizing people outside of the slug line as fellow sluggers. It's really it's own social circle.

Intro to Slugging

Every day when I leave my house for work in the morning, I drive to a parking lot down the road from my house, park, and stand in line waiting to get into a stranger's car. Most people who know this is how I get to work think I'm crazy.

I started slugging initially for financial reasons. Metroing to work from the end of the line is expensive to say the least; $5.20 each way to the metro by my office. Parking in the lot tacks on another $4.50 and that's a solid $15 per day for commuting. Not to mention the gas it takes waiting to get out of the parking lot in the evening. After about 3 weeks of cringing every time I had to add to my SmarTrip card for the Metro on the salary of a temp, I decided to break some barriers, although my boyfriend wasn't too thrilled about the idea, and try this thing I'd heard about from a coworker called "slugging."

Slugging is a system set up to benefit both commuters who drive to work and those who don't want to or can't drive to work. The riders get a free ride into the city in return for being the 2nd and 3rd bodies in the car necessary to allow the driver to use the HOV (high-occupancy-vehicle) lane on 395. And if you've ever driven into DC between the hours of 6 and 9am on a weekday, you've seen the cars in the HOV lane flying past you as you crawl along 395.


I didn't try it to this point because I was a) slightly skeptical about exactly how it worked and whether it would be worth it and b) my father had made it clear he didn't want me to slug, either. Well, that's what I gathered from his "absolutely not" response I got when I said I might try slugging to work. Took some deciphering, but I figured he meant he wasn't ok with it. I told him about two weeks later that I couldn't afford the metro trip anymore and I was just going to try it and see how it went. His response was completely different, "Yeah, definitely try it. Worth it." I guess he'd changed his mind and if my father ,the Private Investigator , was ok with me slugging, then I was going to try it.

I was pretty nervous the first day, actually. What if I didn't find a ride? I'd have to decide at what point to cave and drive to the metro or catch a bus to the pentagon, which really isn't improving the situation either. I went early because I wasn't sure when the car flow slowed down, and I wasn't sure where to park. I found out it was way more popular of a concept than I knew, when I saw the parking lot was full already. It was immediately obvious where everyone was parking outside of the lot, as if finding a spot in the lot at this late hour (7:25am) was rare and laughable.

There were people parking in front of houses on a side street, and it wasn't very clear where was legal to park and where wasn't. Some people parked right in front of people's mailboxes but I wasn't going to risk that. So I parked where most of the cars were and walked up the hill, on the sidewalk and crossed the street at the crosswalk into the slug lot. There were a few cars waiting there, and someone was walking ahead of me so I followed their lead. They walked right up to the car, the driver rolled down their window and said, "Pentagon." We both got into the car and we were off. I said thanks when I got into the car, and then the rest of the ride was pretty quiet until we arrived at the Pentagon. It was also quite clear where slugs were dropped off, as tons of cars in front of me were doing the same exact thing. I followed the person in front of me to the metro station, because I had no idea where it was. I waited for a Blue line metro and metro-ed the rest of the way to work.

I only metro-ed to the Pentagon because I researched and saw that most of the drivers at the slug lot that I went to near my house went to either Pentagon or Rosslyn. So I just needed to get to a metro and then I could make my way into DC. I still had to metro for a few stops, but at least it was half the metro cost and there was no parking fee.

So the first day went well. Not as stressful as I'd thought it would be. Fairly simple, actually. I've been slugging for over a year now. And I now I slug from a different lot, and I slug directly into DC. It's a much more intense, complicated lot, but much more efficient and completely free. I've had some interesting experiences, and on the worst days I've waited for extended periods of time in the rain or humid summer days. But most of the time, it's fairly seamless and it's the quickest, cheapest way to get from DC to the burbs of Virginia. And it definitely gives you some stories to tell.