Paying for rides!

Exactly!
No money exchanges hands! [:)]

Just to give you an example:

Monthly parking: 250.00
Monthly Gas(as of now): 240.00 this number will keep going up
wear and tear on my car: 50.00 Guesstimation
Grand total Monthly: 490.00
GRAN TOTAL YEARLY: 5880.00

SLUG's GRAND TOTAL YEARLY: $0.00

Yes I know, I could slug right??? well I tried slugging last week 15minutes waiting at bobs in the morning.
35 minutes waiting at 19th and G when going home.
total of 50 minutes waiting in line.

it just doesnt work for me, lately i need my car most days so that i can drop off kids, do errands and more importantly get home fast to my kids to attend various functions. Well if i slug I can NO LONGER get home fast, lines are longer and there are less drivers. I simply need to drive more often than not. But as i pick up slugs, i feel taken advantage off.

Once again:
- Drivers are slowly but surely becoming SLUGS so that they too can milk the system instead of people getting free rides from them.
- Slug lines are becoming longer and longer
- Waiting has become longer and longer
- Gas is expensive(newsflash!!)
- dont understand what is the big deal of paying 2/daily
- As a slug you are taking advantage of your driver. Just look at the numbers above.
- Pry your wallets open!!! jeeeez!!!

Keep the system alive TIP your drivers!!!

I am reminded of that old Saturday Night Live quote "Jane, you ignorant slut, who did you sleep with to get this job?"

What don't you understand about the price of gas? Do you get free gas somewhere? Yes, there are benefits on both sides here. I don't think anyone is arguing that. Drivers get to ride in the HOV, it does save us time and a little gas since we get better gas mileage driving rather than sitting. And of course we won't get a ticket with the proper number of people in our cars. Riders get a free ride home for standing a couple of minutes in a line. Can we all agree to this?

Since you claim to enjoy driving people around so much for the benefit of all humanity, I think in your past lives, some of you must have been bus drivers giving free rides all day - good for you.

For me, and I am sure others out there, this is a necessity. I don’t do this to get a warm fuzzy feeling. Since you asked, a carpool does not work for me because of my work hours. Slugging gives me a two hour window when I can usually pick people up and drive home in the HOV lanes. I am not trying to knock anyone who does this out of the kindness of their hearts. I am just honestly saying, this system works, but I am starting to see some cracks. I would honestly love to see it keep working, but I think as many of you have pointed out, the lines are getting longer, drivers are getting fewer. I truly believe the reason is mostly due to the price of gas. So argue all you want, but unless we are all going to start driving with elisabeth64, I think we need to do something.

"a paying system wont work because then the driver has to accept compensation from jobs etc for public transport and how is that not going to be declared as income then"

Duh, excuse me, WHAT?!?! Did you read this before you hit the post button? Are you a tax lawyer? Reimbursement in not income, is that the point you were trying to make. Is your hat to tight? Were you remembering the days riding to school on the small bus?

Sandy said the following:

"Yes I know, I could slug right??? well I tried slugging last week 15minutes waiting at bobs in the morning.
35 minutes waiting at 19th and G when going home.
total of 50 minutes waiting in line."

While drivers undoubtedly pay the heavier price of gas, and we all respect them for doing so, Slugs pay another price in terms of time. I don't know what the average Slug makes a year, but lets say it is 40,000 which I am sure is low. That equates to approximately 3333.00 per month. Work months, on average, consist of 21 days, or 168 hours per month. If you divide 3333.00 into 168 work hours, you will find that the average slug hour is worth $19.88 per hour. So 20.00 to round it to the nearest dollar. So according to your experience, the dollar value of the slug waiting in line, essentially his or her contribution to the system, is about 18.00 figuring in a 50 minute wait time for a ride back and forth to work. Even at four dollars a gallon, for a Springfield driver, with a reasonable MPG, its probably, at most, about 2.5 gallons of gas. Hmmm, looks like the drivers benefit financially from picking up slugs is still 8.00 better than the slug when wait time is factored into the equation. And drivers have flexibility, if your kids are sick at school, or some other emergency develops, you can get in a car and go home. Slugs bear that risk.

On a separate note, it is good to see 122582 back posting again. As you know, I never have agreed with the "tip your driver today" posts but I always respected your ability to argue the point reasonably. I was struck by the story about how you came to that position, I had never heard you say that before. A Friday ride down to Fredericksburg is a premium for slugs, and it was nice of the person to do it the way she did, by not offering you the money but leaving it there for you to find. I think if you had just told that story from the get go, and mentioned how much the gesture meant to you, it would have avoided some of the animosity that the "tip jar" comments brought upon you a long time ago.

I also appreciate that you are not advocating people be charged for the ride, but that slugs should give voluntarily. For folks in Fredericksburg and other points down south, the economics are much different, and the drivers do end up probably paying as much in gas, not to mention wear and tear on the vehicle, that they do benefit the slugs more than visa versa, although the slug line waiting times are much longer down your way. In any event, although we don't see eye to eye on this point, I did and do appreciate your perspective and just wanted to take the time to say so.