Slugging: The Transit Equivalent to Sip Stealing?

You see that sign at the soda fountain that says “no refills“.  Cheap! you think, whats an oz or two when the fountain is like, well, a fountain, an unlimited resource – kinda like we used to think of oil.  And what do you think about sip stealers, when the sign says no refills, yet there you stand siphoning-off the foam and, to continue with the oil metaphor, topping-off your drink. 

My co-workers and I over lunch could debate sip stealing or an equally maybe random topic of slugging.  Slugging is a casual voluntary carpool created by drivers needing bodies to gain travel time or financial gain. Bodies or riders come from high traffic bus stops or park and rides and in fact are “stolen” from transit. Slugging is successful where there is a casual understanding that riders will be picked up and deposited in generally agreed upon end points.  In the Bay Area riders are picked up in Oakland at a transit stop and dropped in the San Francisco financial district.  Drivers gain travel time advantage and reduced tolls while crossing the Bay Bridge.  

Transit agencies can not condone the practice as the carpools are informal and you never know if your driver or passenger is a potential axe murderer.  The moral dilemma is, “Are these informal carpoolers undermining transit farebox return?”  You’ll say unlikely, as these are generally transit riders with prepaid fare cards that they need for the return trip.  Maybe but if these slugs didn’t fulfill the travel benefits of the lone drivers, the lone drivers might grow weary of the travel and consider a transit option.

Read more about slugging.