The Gypsy Cab Armada of the DC Beltway

Yes, you read the subject line correctly.  In the meat-locker of our nation's rationality, some rationality exists and it is actually encouraged by government.  Well, not really.  The same bureaucrats that regulated the active ingredients out of your dishwasher detergent, ruined your toilet (don't believe the statist crap at that link), destroyed your old reliable car engine, are zipping about the area in a distributed, unlicensed, unregulated taxi system.  The locals call it slugging.

Here is the pretty version via Slug-Lines.Com:

Slugging is a term used to describe a unique form of commuting found in the Washington, DC area sometimes referred to as "Instant Carpooling" or "Casual Carpooling". It's unique because people commuting into the city stop to pickup other passengers even though they are total strangers! However, slugging is a very organized system with its own set of rules, proper etiquette, and specific pickup and drop-off locations. It has thousands of vehicles at its disposal, moves thousands of commuters daily, and the best part, it’s FREE! Not only is it free, but it gets people to and from work faster than the typical bus, metro, or train. I think you'll find that it is the most efficient, cost-effective form of commuting in the nation.

The term apparently was coined by bus drivers who inadvertently stopped for cues of riders looking for car rides, who would waive off the buses, and the dedicated public servants deemed them counterfeit bus riders.

At first glance, one might think we are talking about hitchhiking here, but this is no free ride. More from Slug-Lines.Com:

The system of slugging is quite simple. A car needing additional passengers to meet the required 3- person high occupancy vehicle (HOV) minimum pulls up to one of the known slug lines. The driver usually positions the car so that the slugs are on the passenger side. The driver either displays a sign with the destination or simply lowers the passenger window, to call out the destination, such as "Pentagon," "L’Enfant Plaza," or "14th & New York." The slugs first in line for that particular destination then hop into the car, normally confirming the destination, and off they go.

Well, no it is no free ride either.  All that HOV talk above comes with hefty fines if drivers do not follow all of the stupid commuting rules in the DC area.  I may cover the stupid inefficiency of HOV lanes in another post.  Anyway, about 35 years ago a system developed where some people picked up riders to get around the stupid rule.  The website continues to inform readers that no money is exchanged, which is not strictly true.  No cash is exchanged, but both driver and riders get an economic benefit.  In Northern Virginia, the benefit to drivers can be seen in the schedule of fines:

Northern Virginia HOV Lane Fines: First offense: $125
Second offense: $250 plus 3 points on your driving record
Third offense: $500 plus 3 points on your driving record
Fourth offense: $1,000 plus 3 points on your driving record

If you are an outsider who thinks this is something that is easy to get away with, therefore the risk of being fined is negligible, you have another think coming.  Every jurisdiction in the area that has an HOV lane passing through it, has a whole shift of cops standing by to ticket anything illegally moving in those lanes, as well as ticketing plenty of folks who were not doing anything illegal at all.

What does the rider get in the exchange?  A ride.  Not a free ride, of course.  The ride is worth the schedule above.  All of the participants are giving up privacy, safety, and security for a cheaper price of their trip.  Also, all of the participants get to zip along past the normal people who drive in their own personal, private cars.  Saves time for the sluggers and slug catchers while it makes the commute slower for everybody else.

How does the cab driver angle come into play?  Every single jurisdiction where these slug-catchers operate has a strict cab licensing regimen.  One cannot legally drive about picking up strangers and driving them to within a few blocks of their destination in exchange for their suit-coats, rings, watches, spectacles, sex, time, or cash.  At least not without a special permission slip and license plate.  Granted, the state of cab affairs there is not like New York City where the number of cabs is capped, for now.  In the DC area, anybody who wants to go through the licensing and registration hoops can get into the cab business.

Somehow, some way, this massive gypsy cab system is tolerated, encouraged even, by the local constabulary.  It would not even exist if the governments that be had not created the HOV system in the first place.  The Slug-Line.Com cites that in 1975 the HOV lanes were "opened to carpools and vanpools".  Odd choice of wording, since "High Occupancy Vehicle" sounds like it was created specifically for "carpools and vanpools."  In reality, those lanes were closed to everybody else except motorcycles, and now certain alternative fuel vehicles.  So, in the name of saving gas (that is why HOV lanes were created, believe it or not) the DC metropolitan area also created a massive barter cab system.

So why on earth does that area of the country license cabs to begin with?  Safety!  That's right, the government generated excuse for making sure cab drivers have a special license and their cars have special tags is safety of the passengers.  Passengers who, by the hundreds of thousands, got past the eight-lane beltway barrier in regular-old cars, driven by regular-old people, that they never met before.