Vision of a Ride Sharing Service

I don't know how many people would use it, but it certainly could work.

DH and I carpool, we drop the 3 kids off at day care and then drive 20 miles in to work. Our routine changed, we used to drop our kids off only 2 miles from work, so we didn't have an empty seat.

I realized that now I have space for two adults in the back. I know that two of my colleagues take the bus home, and they are along my route. I could easily drop them off on my way to pick up the kids.

Now that would be a carpooling dream - drive the Prius, drop off the kids, pick up the colleagues, drop off the husband, drive with the colleagues to pick up the husband, drop off the colleagues, pick up the kids...that would be squeezing every single bit of efficiency out of the car, wouldn't it? And if they gave me gas money, all the better.

 

Here in Northern Virginia/Washington DC they have "slugging." I don't know who started it or how it came about, but here's how it works: there are designated pick-up places called slug lines at various public parking lots in NoVA during the morning rush hour. People who want a ride to the Pentagon or into DC wait on the slug lines, and people driving alone who want to use the HOV lanes stop at the slug lines and pick up riders. During the afternoon rush, the slugs line up at various locations in DC and at the Pentagon, and drivers pick them up and take them back to the morning slug line areas. So all these total strangers get together everyday for ad-hoc carpooling.

As far as I know, DC is the only city where this is done. I've never tried it, due to lack of need and also I'm not comfortable getting into a car with a stranger. But my understanding is that it works very well and there have not been any problems regarding crimes or anything.

 

On the topic of Virginia, carpooling and HOV lanes, I've heard their legislators actually allow solo stickers for ANY hybrid ... even if it's a gas guzzler like the old Silverado pickups or the 400hp Lexus? Please tell me it's not true.

 

They have that in the SF Bay Area, where it is simply called "Casual Car Pool." See http://www.ridenow.org/carpool/. It works very much the same as you've described it. I've never personally taken part, but my brother does it most days of the week.

 

According to the VDOT website, the list of clean fuel vehicles that qualify for the current HOV exemption is:

Toyota Prius
Honda Insight
Honda Civic
2005 Ford Escape
2006 Ford Escape
2006 Toyota Highlander
2006 Lexus RX400
2006 Mercury Mariner
2006 Honda Accord
2007 Toyota Camry
2007 Lexus GS450h
2007 Ford Escape
2007 Mercury Mariner
2007 Honda Accord
2007 Toyota Highlander

Complete list of rules and FAQs is here:

http://www.virginiadot.org/travel/hov-rulesfaq.asp

 

2007 Lexus GS450h: 22mpg. Wow. Shaking head - jaw dropped.

 

Lexus RX400h gets 30 plus on the highway. Not as good as the Prius but not to bad for an AWD SUV.

 

I used to really dislike the rx400h until I found out how low its emissions are (ignoring CO2 of course). Its actually lower per mile than the Prius. Its still pretty excessive and wasteful, but at least its pretty clean.

Some interesting numbers (g/mi):
Car---------- NOx --- CO ---- HC-NM+NOx-COMP
2007 Prius---- 0.01 -- 0.1 ------ 0.03
2007 RX400h- 0.01 --- 0 ------- 0.02
2007 Civic Hy- 0.01--- 0.4 ----- 0.01
2007 Escape H 0.01 -- 0.1 ----- 0.01
2007 Vue Hy-- 0.04 -- 2.4 ----- 0.05
2006 Jetta TDI 0.31 --0.04 ---- 0.748
2008 Toureg TD 0.57- 0.08 ---- 1.221

Data From Annual Certification Test Results & Data | Cars and Light Trucks | US EPA

Rob

 

Since VDOT refers to "clean fuel vehicles" instead of "hybrids," I assume they are focused more on emissions than mpg.