Etiquette Question

Maybe HOT is the answer?

NoSb

SOV because you can, HOV because you care!

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cedarcitynative, I'm confused as to why you posted the question if you really don't want the responses/counsel from your fellow slugs. You seem to want your actions justified and not everyone will agree or sympathize with you. You feel you are right.

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Boy did you hit the nail on the head. It appears that counsel was not wanted, just reassurance.

You people are far too worried about HOT. If it gets to the point of increased congestion, tolls will rise and less people will pay. If it gets too congested, the HOT will be closed to paying customers and only HOV-3 will be allowed on. Don't forget that they are also adding a lane. Geez...HOT is NOT the end of the world for us current HOVers. However, I am glad that I won't be living near DC after summer of 2008!! :)

"You were wrong. The whole slug system is based on first-come first-served. Of course there are exceptions (like will calls), but what you did is like a driver pulling up and taking riders off the back of the line as a matter of convenience. You violated basic line etiquette."

I completely disagree. Part of basic line etiquette is that drivers and riders can choose who they want to ride with. The entire system would break down if we forced people to ride with the first car in line no matter what.

Most riders and drivers just take the first available car/ride, but the system needs to accomodate that sometimes people need to take the fastest ride too. As with any general rule, some people will abuse it, but let's not punish the people who don't.

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Originally posted by cdatkins

"You were wrong. The whole slug system is based on first-come first-served. Of course there are exceptions (like will calls), but what you did is like a driver pulling up and taking riders off the back of the line as a matter of convenience. You violated basic line etiquette."

I completely disagree. Part of basic line etiquette is that drivers and riders can choose who they want to ride with. The entire system would break down if we forced people to ride with the first car in line no matter what.

Most riders and drivers just take the first available car/ride, but the system needs to accomodate that sometimes people need to take the fastest ride too. As with any general rule, some people will abuse it, but let's not punish the people who don't.

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I can't agree that the important point is that people get to ride with whomever they choose. That is antithetical to the very concept of slugging, which is to get people (drivers and slugs) from one end of the HOV to the other.

I'll give you a real life example of how "I want to ride in THAT car" affects the dynamics of the line. I was slugging from Rosslyn to 610 and was fourth (of four people) in line. Two cars pull up and I immediately move toward the second car. The other three people all began piling in the first car. When I suggested we ride two slugs to each car I got a response "We want to ride together". Off they went and I sat in the car with the other driver (who was quite disgusted) for about 5 minutes before another slug came along.

I don't believe that the free style approach is a healthy thing for slugging. I think you should get in the first car in line unless there is some good reason you don't want to get in there, e.g. you are too large to fit in a small car, bad experience with that driver, poor condition of the vehicle, etc. Similarly, I think drivers should pick up from the front of the line, although I understand that will calls can make it more convenient as a driver can pick up a coworker and drive direct to the worksite. I'm pretty conservative about what I think are acceptable behaviours for slugs - I'm against line-cutting and I'm even against the current trend of asking every driver to "take three", as I believe it uses up all the slugs and the later drivers will be left short, and I don't think that's fair.

Interesting discussion - thanks! :)