Is slugging going to die a slow death?
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Topic: Is slugging going to die a slow death?
Posted By: Trailwalker
Subject: Is slugging going to die a slow death?
Date Posted: 15 Jun 2008 at 7:54pm
I have been driving and picking up slugs for a long time. But gas prices have gone so high that gasoline alone is twice the monthly price of a bus or train ticket. Not to mention wearing out a car every four years.
I've noticed the slug lines are getting longer and longer. More people trying to slug and fewer drivers. The handful of people I know who slug and who drive have noticed. The drivers I know are becoming weary of the cost of driving.
I think I will probably stop driving soon, at least most of the time and start taking public transportation most of the time. Some of my pals that drive are talking the same game. We were talking about carpooling together but the trains and buses offer more flexibility than us in a carpool and flexibility is the biggest reason that any of us drive.
So I think the number of drivers will probably fall off. And as slugs wait in line longer and longer the number of slugs will fall off. Sooner or later drivers and slugs will balance out but there will be less drivers and sluggers.
I've been reading this board and it is amusing with talk about paying for rides and dirty cars and farting but only posted once. Please notice I did not say anything nasty about drivers or slugs. Just posted an opinion. Does anyone have any thoughts on my predictions for the slug lines?
Trailwalker
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Replies:
Posted By: blacksky
Date Posted: 15 Jun 2008 at 10:39pm
quote:
Originally posted by Trailwalker
I have been driving and picking up slugs for a long time. But gas prices have gone so high that gasoline alone is twice the monthly price of a bus or train ticket. Not to mention wearing out a car every four years.
I've noticed the slug lines are getting longer and longer. More people trying to slug and fewer drivers. The handful of people I know who slug and who drive have noticed. The drivers I know are becoming weary of the cost of driving.
I think I will probably stop driving soon, at least most of the time and start taking public transportation most of the time. Some of my pals that drive are talking the same game. We were talking about carpooling together but the trains and buses offer more flexibility than us in a carpool and flexibility is the biggest reason that any of us drive.
So I think the number of drivers will probably fall off. And as slugs wait in line longer and longer the number of slugs will fall off. Sooner or later drivers and slugs will balance out but there will be less drivers and sluggers.
I've been reading this board and it is amusing with talk about paying for rides and dirty cars and farting but only posted once. Please notice I did not say anything nasty about drivers or slugs. Just posted an opinion. Does anyone have any thoughts on my predictions for the slug lines?
Trailwalker
I've noticed it too. I've seen really long lines, especially to come home, but I've also seen cars waiting for slugs, notably in to NoVa or DC on Fridays (and occasionally to go south). Very difficult to discern out where this is all going. I drive and slug, but have VRE and Bus tickets just in case. I need to invest in a crystal ball [;)]
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Posted By: mycroftt
Date Posted: 16 Jun 2008 at 7:06am
No, slugging won't die a slow death. The market factors that favored its development are all still in place and will not change any time in the foreseeable future, i.e., HOV rules, inadequate mass transit, inadequate non-HOV highway capacity. If long slug lines have any effect on drivers, it is a positive one - less waiting and more convenience in picking up slugs. Longer slug lines will push more people into driving occasionally, just as long lines of cars lead to people parking and taking a ride if they don't really need to drive in. The biggest threat to slugging is the HOT lanes - as soon as the foreign private interest that has been given our taxpayer-funded facility decides they need to make more money - no more HOV. Then you will see sluglines consisting solely of those willing to share the outrageous costs of HOT tolls.
I would do the math before switching completely to mass transit - it is all pretty expensive. The most cost effective option I have found is carpooling, but it has a significant downside in its lack of flexibility.
If anything, we may see a return to the flexibility and resourcefulness of the original sluggers, rather than the entitlement program for pampered Gen-X'ers that slugging seems to have become.
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Posted By: Redrover
Date Posted: 16 Jun 2008 at 11:08am
Here in Houston Texas, it seems the Slug lines are getting longer. Personally, I'm in a position that I have to drive in order to take care of my daily business. Our bus system runs about $7.00 a day round trip and prices haven't increased in a while so I suspect those rates will increase. Ridership on the busses is growing too with people actually having to stand on busses which ends up putting more people into the slug lines.
Blogging about the Slug Driver
http://slugdriver.blogspot.com/
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Posted By: Peyton O.
Date Posted: 16 Jun 2008 at 11:27am
The biggest threat to slugging is the HOT lanes - as soon as the foreign private interest that has been given our taxpayer-funded facility decides they need to make more money - no more HOV.
Seems unlikely since as part of the agreement is that Virginia retains ownership and oversight of the lanes.
Page 2 of VDOT's December news release discusses this:
http://www.virginiadot.org/news/resources/CO-0792.pdf
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Posted By: mycroftt
Date Posted: 16 Jun 2008 at 12:27pm
quote:
Originally posted by Peyton O.
The biggest threat to slugging is the HOT lanes - as soon as the foreign private interest that has been given our taxpayer-funded facility decides they need to make more money - no more HOV.
Seems unlikely since as part of the agreement is that Virginia retains ownership and oversight of the lanes.
Page 2 of VDOT's December news release discusses this:
http://www.virginiadot.org/news/resources/CO-0792.pdf
That article is about building new HOT lanes on the Beltway where there are no current HOV lanes and, therefore, no slugging, so it does not affect slugging at all. I have yet to see anything legally binding that guarantees that HOV-3 will remain in effect on the existing HOV facilities.
One thing we do know for sure is that the unrestricted use of the HOV lanes during non-peak hours is soon to be a thing of the past. HOT tolls will be a 24x7 reality. So the state has conspired with the private interest to restrict the citizen's access to the facility they have built. Where you now drive free, you will have to pay in the future.
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Posted By: Trailwalker
Date Posted: 17 Jun 2008 at 6:20pm
I do think slugging will die a slow death. If there are more slugs than drivers than slugging will not work for the excess slugs. Those slugs who cant get rides are going to have to get to work some other way than slugging.
Driving used to be something I preferred to do but now at $4/gallon it is not. So July I am riding the train. And at $4.50 or $5.00 or $6.00 other drivers are going to quit driving too. Enough drivers quit and there will be more slugs than drivers. Eventually some slugs are going to get tired of waiting for rides that don't come then they will quit slugging too. Slugging will still be here but it will be much reduced in size.
Even if the HOT lanes allow HOV there is still the problem of gas prices. Bottom line is that everywhere in the world where gas prices have already gone sky high more people take transit and less drive.
I'll check back here in a year and see if everyone still thinks gas prices won't effect slugs ability to catch a ride. By the way, I met quite a few nice people while picking up slugs. Much more than the the occasional loser who got in the car. Good luck folks.
Trailwalker
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Posted By: Trailwalker
Date Posted: 17 Jun 2008 at 6:44pm
I do think slugging will die a slow death. If there are more slugs than drivers than slugging will not work for the excess slugs. Those slugs who cant get rides are going to have to get to work some other way than slugging.
Driving used to be something I preferred to do but now at $4/gallon it is not. So July I am riding the train. And at $4.50 or $5.00 or $6.00 other drivers are going to quit driving too. Enough drivers quit and there will be more slugs than drivers. Eventually some slugs are going to get tired of waiting for rides that don't come then they will quit slugging too. Slugging will still be here but it will be much reduced in size.
Even if the HOT lanes allow HOV there is still the problem of gas prices. Bottom line is that everywhere in the world where gas prices have already gone sky high more people take transit and less drive.
I'll check back here in a year and see if everyone still thinks gas prices won't effect slugs ability to catch a ride. By the way, I met quite a few nice people while picking up slugs. Much more than the the occasional loser who got in the car. Good luck folks.
Trailwalker
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Posted By: ceejay2
Date Posted: 17 Jun 2008 at 8:25pm
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