[pf] NYT article on carpooling in the Bay Area

by prichter1

10 December 2000 17:28 UTC

For those of you who don't want cookies, I've copied and pasted this 
article-- thought it was interesting, especially the last line:
Priscilla

December 10, 2000
Piedmont Journal: Stepping Into the Unknown to Cross Bay Bridge
By EVELYN NIEVES
IEDMONT, Calif., Dec. 8 — At 7:30 a.m., with the sun barely awake, the line 
of cars idling on Oakland Avenue extends the entire block. The cars, which 
are mostly the fancy kind, Passats and Saabs and a gamut of S.U.V.'s, are 
vying for the same thing: two strangers, any two strangers, to hop in their 
nice shiny vehicles, no questions asked.

The strangers pile in, the drivers take off, and the cars move forward on 
line, like cabs at an airport.

"This works for me," said Tauheedah Rashid from the driver's seat of her 
silver 2000 Jetta as she waited for passengers. Ms. Rashid, who works for a 
dot-com recruiting concern, started car-pooling, sometimes as a driver, 
sometimes as a passenger, six months ago. She finds comfort in the routine of 
it. "You say good morning, you hear a news station or music and you get to 
work." 

The block is like this for hundreds of people every weekday morning from just 
before 6 to just after 9. One long line of cars, one steady stream of 
strangers entering those cars and both benefiting neatly from what the 
suburbs east of the San Francisco Bay have labeled "casual car-pooling." For 
the driver, it means a go on the high-occupancy-vehicle lane (at least three 
people) on the freeway to the Bay Bridge, shaving 20 to 30 minutes off what 
would be about an hour's trip to San Francisco (not to mention the $2 toll, 
which is waived for diamond-lane traffic). For the passengers, it means free 
rides. 

And for the world at large, it means fewer cars on the road. At least fewer 
than there could be. Given the growth of the Bay Area in the new economy era, 
there are many more cars on the road, and many more casual car poolers, than 
there used to be. Since the casual car pool phenomenon began, sometime in the 
late 1970's, somewhere in Oakland, it has grown to encompass several thousand 
commuters. 

In towns like Piedmont, which prefers life tidy, residents complained about 
growing lines of cars. So casual car pool sites are now officially 
designated, with official signs, making them seem not so casual. Longtime 
casual car poolers, like Dallas Phillips, say their zippy commute in the fast 
lane is now 40 to 45 minutes, double what it was 10 years ago.

"I've also noticed that there used to be a lot of people waiting for cars," 
Mr. Phillips said. "Now there are a lot of cars waiting for people." 

With so much traffic, the conversation in the car, if any, is likely to be 
about the shortest cuts to reach the diamond lane.

Still, the casual car pool has, somewhat miraculously, retained its aura as a 
throwback to more innocent times. It serves as a reminder of the days when 
people did not lock their doors and the kindness of strangers was the rule. 
How else to explain the idea of strangers sitting shoulder to shoulder in a 
car, trusting they will make it to work just fine?

"I travel the United States and tell people about this and they say, `You're 
crazy,' " said Mr. Phillips, who, at 7:50 this morning, piled into a black 
Ford Explorer whose driver he did not know. 

"You are in a vulnerable position," said Mr. Phillips, who works for Delta 
Dental insurance. "But this is Piedmont, land of Beemers and Volvos. You have 
a false sense of security, trusting that everyone going to work is O.K.."

Drivers say they take some precautions. Some women prefer to pick up at least 
one woman, rather than two men. Some drivers only pick up people they have 
seen before, and some passengers will only enter cars they have seen before.

In this culture, drivers get designated nicknames. A woman is known as the 
"Gospel Lady" because she plays gospel music all the way to San Francisco. A 
man who drives a car with the words "ship oil" on it is the "Ship Oil Guy." 

The rules of the road are simple. It is a given that no one smokes or drinks 
or eats. And like Victorian children with their elders, passengers do not 
speak unless spoken to by the driver (who may have other rules, like no 
perfume). These rules are just the way people like it.

"I was reluctant to do this at first, because I didn't want to have to talk 
to people," said Ken McCarty, who works in a mail room in San Francisco. 
Car-pooling, which he began as a passenger six months ago, became 
irresistible to him because he pockets $30 a month in bus fares. "It's not 
about saving time," he said. "It's more flexible than relying on bus 
schedules."

But like most car poolers, he takes the bus back home. 

Mr. McCarty also appreciates the blissful silence of early morning meditation 
in a stranger's car. "Once I realized we didn't have to talk, it was great," 
he said. He entered a Nissan, gave a nod to the driver, and settled in behind 
him in the back of the car.