I was more than a little surprised the other day to hear the city's news and information radio station reporting on slug lines as if they had just started up or the reporter had just heard of them for the first time. Maybe he had but a little research might have shown him that slug lines have been around for some time despite not getting any official support from local or regional or state transportation agencies. At the same time maybe it's not a bad idea to talk about the origin and use of this phenomenon that is largely unique to Washington.
Slug lines, for those who weren't around, started about the same time that the HOV lanes were built along I-95 and I-395. This was also the time of the first series of oil embargoes and it made people scramble to find new and cheaper ways to work. There was no Virginia Railway Express. The number of small cars made in Japan that got really good gas mileage were few and far between. America was into big, fast comfortable cars and wasn't thinking about the availability of gasoline... until they had to sit in lines overnight to wait for it. This perfect storm led to creation of what became known as slug lines.
One of the main reasons that this idea works so well in this region is that so many of the people looking for rides work at the same places as those who are looking for passengers to qualify for the, usually, faster HOV lanes. If it weren't for the Pentagon or the Department of Agriculture or Energy then there probably wouldn't be any slug lines. Government workers, particularly the military, are a tight-knit group that tends to trust one another. It doesn't hurt that the way the HOV lanes are designed along the corridor there are few points for a driver to suddenly veer off and take the passengers to a cabin deep in the woods.
Where did the term "slugs" come from? For the answer we turn to slug-lines.com, the website for and about slugs: "The story goes like this. Bus drivers had always been warned to be aware of counterfeit coins (also known as slugs) from people trying to pass off this fake money in the coin collection tray.
"When slugging was in its infancy, commuters stood at the bus stops, waiting for a driver to pick them up. Bus drivers, thinking these people were waiting for the bus would stop to pick up the passengers only to be waved off, frustrating many of the drivers. As this event became more and more frequent, bus drivers began recognizing the real bus riders from the fakes. Because the people weren't really waiting for the bus, drivers began to simply call them 'slugs.' This definition seems to make sense because these people weren't real bus riders or even real carpoolers in the usual sense of the word. They were, just as the name implies, counterfeit riders or slugs. Hence, the term was born."
That same website is a great resource if you live along the I-395, I-95 corridor. It provides the locations for all of the pick up and drop off points, a primer on etiquette and rules and a message board. It even has a lost and found for passengers who have left there glasses or keys or wallets or even laptops and grocery bags. The whole thing is very civilized and very much on the honor system. You get a sense in reading this website and seeing the comments that there is a good deal of respect for one another that goes on. I've ridden the slug lines and can tell you that it works really well. It's just amazing that no one has gone in and messed it up or that the government hasn't figured out a way to get involved and tax the rides as some sort of service. That is the true beauty of slugs; that they are of the people and for the people in the truest sense.
Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.
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