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Mr. LeBlanc said he avoided slugging when he moved to D.C. in 1996. The idea of getting into the backseat of some stranger’s car to get from one end of the city to the other made him squeamish.

Then he tried the bus, and “right across the street was a slug line. People were walking right past me and getting into a slug line and just getting in their car and going,” he said. “I was waiting for a bus to show up to pay $5 to get to work slower.”

Mr. LeBlanc said problems are extremely rare, and it solves all the problems of carpooling; the system is flexible, free and lets him get a power nap in after work.

Idle chitchat, it should be noted, is discouraged.

The cost of parking in Calgary drives people on to the transit system

“In Toronto, the strategy of not building any new highways into downtown drives people onto the transit system,” said Mr. Stanley. “The cost of parking in Calgary drives people on to the transit system.”

“I know I’m going to get emails for this; Unofficially in Toronto, since 1976, we’ve been minimizing the amount of surplus parking in downtown to try and discourage people from driving.”

Slugging seems to work when more than three people are required in a vehicle to use the carpool lane — that means “sluggers” are rarely left to get into a car alone, and increases the perception of safety.

Could such a concept take off in Canada? Mr. Stanley said he isn’t sure; firstly, few Canadian cities suffer the same kind of gridlock commonly seen in the U.S.

“To some extent what would happen here is more of the carpooling culture, swing by to pick you up in the morning. I’m not sure the traffic problems here are at the point where people might start to try [slugging],” he said.

National Post

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