Transit Miami

Rick of SOTP fame led me to this informative page on the concept of “slugging.” Slugging is basically carpooling, enjoying the benefits of using the HOV lanes, with one minor exception: your passengers are complete strangers. The site claims that slugging began over 30 years ago, during the oil embargo of the 1970’s. It’s amazing how quickly we turn to easy alternatives once economics come into play. In any case, slugging puts HOV lanes into good use, requiring that vehicles traveling in the lanes have a minimum of 3 occupants, the DC area laws were written and enforced to move the greatest amount of people. Slug-Lines provides a wealth of information on slugging, including; pick-up/drop-off locations, etiquette (amazing list of rules can be found here), slug groups, and a message board. Once again, it is evident that Miami is way behind the times. Lately, I’ve heard too many complaints about HOV and how inefficient the “wasted lane” is or better yet: “solutions” on how to turn our HOV lanes in to pay as you go lanes. The HOV can be one of our best tools to combat the gridlock on our major highways daily because it is not only easy to implement but will actually reduce vehicles (and our unnatural dependency on them.) You can scream and shout about riding with strangers, the cost of building a rail system, or the ridiculous traffic, but, you can’t knock a concept that won’t cost taxpayers a cent unless you’ve actually tried it…