2003-03-25 8:56 p.m.
Rating the Casual Carpool
The casual carpool is a glorified, more regimented form of hitchhiking, and it's been going on in the East Bay for over 20 years. The way it works is like this: passengers line up at one of the agreed-upon casual carpool stops. Drivers come by and fill up their car with enough passengers to get them through the carpool lane on the freeway. Carpoolers score a free ride; drivers get to bypass the metering lights on the Bay Bridge and much of the traffic; everyone's happy.
Usually.
Yesterday was a (mostly) good casual carpool day. The ride was a very shiny, very smooth black Mercedes, with an equally shiny and smooth driver. The other passenger and I were wrapped in a velvet blanket of cool the minute we slid into our seats. We listened to King Curtis the whole way over; the driver told us that King Curtis was a favorite of Aretha Franklin's, and both of us passengers had decided to go out and buy some by the time we got to work. It was a little unnerving, though, having the driver play air piano on the dashboard -- with both hands, at 55 miles an hour. Overall: 9 out of 10.
Today, though.. today I hopped into the back of a Subaru wagon and was greeted with the smell of chai. Once the doors closed, though, the smell of dog took over. In my morning haze I hadn't noticed the dog hair all over the back seat and the doggy nose smears all over the windows and that old dog smell. Mmm-mmm. Ever tried to hold your breath for half an hour? Doesn't work.
In his defense though, he didn't violate the NPR Commandment (Thou Shalt Not Inflict Thy Crappy Music On Unsuspecting Passengers, Playing Only The Dulcet Tones Of Morning Edition On Thy Radio). And the car didn't have junk in the backseat, nor was it in poor mechanical condition. Today was a 4 out of 10.
Casual Carpool: It's Not Just Transportation, It's An Adventure.