Need a job? How about being a “commuter helper?”
This popped up today (http://www.pfadvice.com/2006/06/21/creative-job-commute-helper/) and is an interesting story:
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, the commutes in certain sections are absolutely horrendous. This guy was sitting in a traffic jam one morning watching all the people in the carpool lane drive by while he was moving at snail’s pace. He decided that he needed to get someone else in his car so that he could get to work in a timely manner using the carpool lane, and at first thought that his only option was to start a carpool.
As he thought about it more, however, he thought that he (as in himself and his body) was actually a valuable commodity and he could sell himself and that is exactly what he did. He walked to the freeway entrance and held up a sign that said,
“Traffic is bad. Spend 2 hours or pay me $10 and get there in 20 minutes”
He said the first day he was picked up within 15 minutes. When he got dropped off, he walked to the other side, held up his sign and got paid to go back the other way too. On a typical day he makes 2 to 3 round trips during the morning commute rush hour and 3 - 5 round trips during the evening rush hour. If there is an accident and traffic is really slow, his price doubles. He clears $100 - $300 a day sitting in a car so others can get to work and home faster!
No boss, no pressure, no schedule. What could be better? This could be adaptable to many other cities where the traffic is bad and the carpool/HOV lanes are under-used.
For most of my life I lived in the Washington, D.C. area and they have always had "slug lines." Slugging is a term used to describe a unique form of commuting found in that city. 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. It's unique because it is not a government sponsored commuter program, but one created out of ingenuity from local citizens to solve commuter problems. There is a great web site (www.slug-lines.com) with maps and instructions so anyone can be a slug or form an instant car pool for the morning or evening commute.
