Monday, July 26, 2010 was a historic moment for the dynamic ridesharing movement in Washington, D.C. when Arlington County's Transportation Services hosted the first ever regional slugging and dynamic ridesharing coordination meeting at their Rosslyn offices. The meeting was co-sponsored by The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG).
Slugging has been around for decades but has largely existed in the shadows of local and regional planning. This meeting proved that transportation planners are very interested in the congestion, parking, and pollution reducing benefits of real-time ridesharing. The meeting drew more than thirty participants from throughout the area who included federal, state, regional, and local transportation planners, slugging promoters, and entrepreneurs. They discussed the current climate for slugging and future opportunities to expand dynamic ridesharing to other corridors in the region.
Presenters included:
David LeBlanc, author of Slugging: The Commuting Alternative for Washington, D.C. and webmaster of www.slug-lines.com. David gave a short history of slugging in the region, explained his role in compiling information on the slug lines, and announced his recent efforts to bring a slug-line to Alexandria City.
Two fascinating inventors/entreprenuers, James Cech and Mike Burkhardt, who have each developed better ways for riders and drivers to connect with one another. James's system involves coded signs and stickers for cars based on destination and Mike, a computer programmer, has created an online, dynamic ridematching system for individuals traveling from Rosslyn to Route 17 in the afternoon. Their individual contributions to slugging are so interesting that they will each be featured individually in later posts on this blog.
Masoud Hamedi, a Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland, reported on the fascinating research into dynamic ridesharing that he is conducitng with his advisor Dr. Ali Haghani, Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering.
Jason Conley, with AVEGO www.avego.com, told the assembled group about a dynamic ridesharing pilot project that his company recently secured with the Washington State Department of Transportation in the Seattle area. For more details see www.avego.com/st/wsdot.
Alex Lee of Virginia Mega-Projects updated the group about the High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes currently under construction on the Beltway/I-495. The consensus about the Beltway HOT lanes among participants was largely positive as most are convinced that the HOT lanes will create an incentive for slugging to extend to Tysons Corner. Drivers and riders will both save time and money and help alleviate traffic congestion and pollution for others there.
We were also honored to hear from Supervsor Michael May who not only represents many slugs from Prince William County but is also a slug himself (and a second-generation one at that). Supervisor May discussed the need for more collaboration among local governments in accomodating and supporting slugging as it benefits everone in the region.
After the meeting the group walked down to the Rosslyn slug-lines to watch this fascinating phenomenon in action. Many had never before observed it in person. It only served to remind me of the wonderful collaborative nature of slugging and how much it contrasts to the rudeness and road-rage that you might find elsewhere during rush hour.
Marc Oliphant is a Facilities Planner with the U.S. Navy
