Personal Finance Advice

You would have to be able to stand somewhere so you wouldn’t get hit and could allow people to pull over. In my area, the car pool lanes start and stop along the highway, hard area to pull over and pick someone up…. but hmmmm.

His explanation to me was he stands at the top of the enterance ramp onto the freeway at a busy onramp – so actually before the cars get onto the freeway – since the onramps have lights that space cars entering the freeway are timed during rush hour, it is very easy for people to pick him up.

Sounds cool. Also, this isn’t exactly hitchhiking, so the chance of waking up in a tub of ice somewhere is pretty slim … right?

Interesting but I think I would pass on this. Too many weirdos out there. You are better off carpooling with someone you know.

In the DC area you have what is called “slug”ing. A slug is someone that is picked up from designated locations so you can use the carpool lanes. The slugs work just like other people in town. However there is no guarantee who you are going to ride with each day. Also there is no guarantee of getting a ride. So they are taking a risk for not getting a ride, but I’ve heard it works well for them. Of course they don’t get paid, just a free ride to work.

Wow, you can tell I am a country bumpkin! I didn’t know there was such traffic problems!! I live on a little ole dirt road and usually have the road to myself.

Mary Ann

This goes to show how stupid carpool lanes are. You can’t legislate human nature. Doesn’t it seem really backwards to close off 1/5 to 1/4 of the available traffic capacity of a roadway during peak usage hours? How much non-renewable energy is wasted on stop and go bumper to bumper traffic while three people whiz by just because they happen to have a passenger that day?

People giving people rides in the bay area is a little bit normal. I remember the 2nd day I’d moved out here, my GF and I (staying with a friend) were out and about early looking for apartments. As we walked up a street a few blocks from a freeway entrance, a guy drove up in a car and said “San Francisco?” We were kinda bewildered and replied “no thanks”. Apparently there are places where you go to pick up/get picked up by people in the morning to commute into the city.

Thats what i call a cool and creative idea. The best part is that he doesn’t have a boss.

Well in the UK we don’t have anything like this (yet) but its a good business idea if the goverment decided to kick up a fuss, which there are rumours of them doing

[...] Personal Finance Advice » Blog Archive » Creative Job – Commute Helper I have to say that this was one of the more interesting “side jobs” I’ve heard of.  I know that the major shippers in the Bay Area here hire someone to act as a passenger to do this exact same thing, but they’re generally termed “helpers.”  Pretty funny how the guy came up with it, and he must live near an area with major problems… the only time the Napa Valley has bad traffic on the weekends (and certain times of the day) when tourists are thick and add to the traffic… [...]

Carpool lanes are to encourage people to ride together, thus wasting less energy. If everybody rode together, there would be less traffic, and polution would be less of a problem. That’s why 1/5 to 1/4 of the road is reserved just for them, as an example to everybody else.

He doesn’t have a boss, but he doesn’t have any job security, either, especially now that there will be copycats as a result of this story breaking.

pretty common occurance in some parts of the world

Jeff – I know what carpool lanes are SUPPOSED to do, but they will absolutely never work. This blog post is a shining example of that. The government needs to realize that they are never going to be able to legislate away human nature. Until then, carpool lanes are most likely causing more of the same kind of damage they were idiotically designed to fix.

This is the coolest idea i’ve seen in a long time
Too bad i pedal my bike to work everyday.

Bob….. where’s your head? This blog is an exception, not a representation. Don’t be idiotic.

[...] Should be interesting when we start getting car pool lanes in the UK. (Car Pool lane is where you have to have more than 1 person in your car)read more | digg story [...]

Bob: There’s another good reason for carpool lanes. They allow mass transit to operate in a predictable and timely manner. I think you underestimate the extra traffic that would occur if we got rid of them. That said, there should be ways to improve them…

Fusty, when have you ever seen a full carpool lane? The only reason they are attractive is precisely BECAUSE nobody uses them. If, by some miracle, people DID start using them and they filled up, it would completely remove any incentive to use them. The solution to energy waste lies in finding ways to eliminate commuting in the first place, not wasting 1/4 of the capacity of the roads we DO have and causing the traffic to sit and idle.

Mike, I don’t know where you live, but in the Phoenix area, I don’t see freeways full of busses. All I see is bumper to bumper in 3 lanes and a few people whizzing by in the carpool lane. Nobody shares a ride to work, because they need their cars. Everything is so spread out in this town that you CAN’T be without a car unless you want to spend an extra 3 hours a day stuck on a bus. I know. For years I couldn’t afford to own a car. At least in this area, public transportation is an absolute JOKE.

Who cares if you live in a shit country or if you destroy the atmosphere with your stupid car – at least you get to rush into WORK and get there 20 minutes earlier! LOL fools!

http://www.ridenow.org/carpool/
“Casual car pools” are informal car pools that form when drivers and passengers meet at designated locations. There are a number of East Bay pickup locations, which are listed on the previous page. Drivers drop passengers off at Fremont and Mission Streets (or nearby) in downtown San Francisco. Sometimes the driver will indicate where they are going after that (north of Market, for example, or even to Civic Center) and offer to take passengers further.

[...] Click here for Story [...]

Great idea. Is there any market for this anywhere in Australia? I’ll be travelling down there and I suspect this could be a good way to make some extra cash while on the trip.

Car pool lanes??! Brilliant idea. The UK and especially London needs these now. I’m emailing my MP.

I used to live in Jakarta, where these techniques were a common method of wealth redistribution. There, the people who ride in the passenger seats are known as “car jockeys”. You can find them at every entrance to the expressways. Many will wait all day at their destination for someone who can take them back in the other direction after work. I lived near an expressway on-ramp and I’d see hundreds of these people every morning.

This story reminds me also of Singapore, where you pay different road-use tolls depending on what time of day you travel on certain roads. Many of these road charges fall significantly at 9am, so you’ll often see cars parked along the side of the expressways at 8.45am while their wealthy drivers (owning a car in Singapore is an expensive proposition, believe me) wait to save a couple of dollars in road charges at 9am.

The traffic in Singapore isn’t as bad as compared to San Francisco Bay Area. However, in Jakarta, it is worse than in Singapore. This guy’s technique is truly marketable. From what he sees, I’m sure there’ll be more and more such people like him joining the market to be “car sitter”.

Wasn’t this in a movie recently? A guy picks up a homeless guy who eventually ends up becomming his boss? I forget the name….

I wonder how he does his pricing for accidents (and how he finds out about them)? If you do the math for his typical day at 10 bucks a ride he makes between $100 and $160 a day on an accident free day. Making $300 a day seems like a huge increase that would require making 15 roundtrips a day.

Scott said:

“In the DC area you have what is called “slugâ€?ing. A slug is someone that is picked up from designated locations so you can use the carpool lanes. The slugs work just like other people in town. However there is no guarantee who you are going to ride with each day. Also there is no guarantee of getting a ride. So they are taking a risk for not getting a ride, but I’ve heard it works well for them. Of course they don’t get paid, just a free ride to work. ”

It works great! I like having control of the drive so I pick up slugs every day for the 28 mile commute up I-95 to Arlington. Time savings vary (usually about a 30 minute savings). Check out http://www.slug-lines.com to see how it works.

[...] http://www.pfadvice.com/2006/06/21/creative-job-commute-helper/ [...]

When I lived in Asia we did this all the time. They were called “Jockey’s” local lads who we’d pay $1 to ride in the passenger seat so we could go to work in the fast lane!

We have car pool lanes in the UK. They are called 2+ lanes. People use them for speeding.

[...] This popped up today (http://www.pfadvice.com/2006/06/21/creative-job-commute-helper/) and is an interesting story:  [...]

The carpool lanes out here are wierd, Morning traffic there only used for going north bound and afternoon traffic is only used for going south

That is the most ingenious way I’ve ever heard of someone making money!

Just a real quick note to say, “Brilliant!”. Now, I need to get down to the freeway offramp STAT!

It’s an interesting idea and all, but how does he end up back to where he wants? Since he only ends up where other people take him, I’d imagine it’d take him some creativity to route his carpools to get back where he started eventually…

[...] Creative Job – Commute Helper [...]

Is there no one who sees this as cheating?
Moving extra weight around does not help with reductions in fuel consumption/emissions/congestion.
This is a subversion of the reason there are such lanes. They now become ‘carpoolers and rich drivers’ lanes.
I’d rather the government sell one-day passes for low-occupancy cars so they could use the money to counteract the emissions.

This is the best idea i’ve heard in a while.

[...] One fellow in San Francisco has created his own job. He’s a commute helper. Pay him a flat fee and he’ll ride with you in your car so that you can use the carpool lane. [...]

[...] [via personal finance advice] (No votes yet)  Loading … Related posts: [...]

[...] It’s so simple! Share this post with:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

Boss?!?!?!…LOL you don’t get it he has no Boss, there is no such thing as Job security are you smoking?, if you believe that, this guy will be richer than you ever will and faster as well he also understands that with great risks comes great achievements, bravo to this guy, he is making it happen, that is how Bill Gates did it.

The problem with this story is that most car pool lanes in the Bay Area require 3 people. There are recognized stops (noted with signs) in many parts of the Bay Area where casual car poolers pick up 2 people for free in order to use the car pool lanes.

I think this idea is good, but now you have to ask: Is this job sexist? I truly believe that it is. Take for instance, is a woman really willing to stand on the curve to be picked up for the ride? This is starting to sound like a prostitution job if a woman does it. Although i praise you for coming up with this idea, I still think we have to think about it carefully before diving into for a living.

[...] Want to move to a big city, but don’t have a job, try this on for size. Tags:Best of Interweb, Crazy, Digg, Games, Google, Movie, MySpace, Porn, Web 2.0, Work [...]

This is just an extension, and a profitable one, of the long-standing process of picking up passengers who want to commute with you into SF. For example, I think this has been happening at the North Berkeley BART station almost as long as there have been carpool lanes on the Bay Bridge.

[...] Toreros Who picks the radio station? Friday June 23rd 2006, 11:17 am Filed under: Traffic, Social Contract …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” [...]

Charle said:
Is there no one who sees this as cheating?
Moving extra weight around does not help with reductions in fuel consumption/emissions/congestion.
This is a subversion of the reason there are such lanes. They now become ‘carpoolers and rich drivers’ lanes.
I’d rather the government sell one-day passes for low-occupancy cars so they could use the money to counteract the emissions.

and I reply:
Cheating? You’re kidding, right? No one (and I do mean no one) uses the carpool lane for reasons of consumption or emissions – they don’t give a flying fig about that stuff. People use things like the carpool lanes because they can, and it makes things easier for them. So in that respect everyone is cheating. The reason for the carpool lane is to encourage people to carpool… the reason for the lanes is separate from the reasons why people use them. If traffic is bad and you have the extra cash to pay someone to sit in your car, you are spending less time sitting on the freeway with the engine idling…. less emissions, more efficient energy use. And, someone gets paid for helping that happen. If you don’t have the money to do this, you actually have to find someone to carpool with that lives and works at/near the places you do. So here is something someone with no job can do to earn a living and reduce emissions! And the price keeps everyone from doing it, so the carpool lane doesn’t become as congested as the others and become worthless. Sure, the extra weight for no reason isn’t the best thing, but this isn’t a perfect world. And a car with two people in it doesn’t become that much less efficient because of the second person… the change is insignifigant with the kind of cars we use today. When we start using ultralight composite cars, maybe.

Government selling passes so they can use the money to counteract emissions? There isn’t anything government can do to counteract emissions once they are in the air, no matter how much money you throw at it. Passing a law or ordinance requiring manufacturers to meet minimum MPG and emissions standards costs the government how much above it’s normal operating cost? Zero. It’s what they do.

CoolJay: prostitution on the freeway? Not likely. I wouldn’t consider this any more sexist than the entire rest of society. If a woman was worried about rape doing this job, she could wear the new anti-rape condom while doing this. It would only take one person attempting it to put an end to that kind of danger. What guy wants his willie shredded on the freeway?

Well, it is common for indonesia. We use the same way to cross certain roads. Actually, most of the foreign countries immitated Indonesia’s way.

[...] A guy earns $100 – $300 a day by helping people to drive in the car commuter lane. The best part of it is that he doubles the price if there has been an accident and the traffic is particular bad that day. [...]

[...] Too clever: This guy will sit in your car curing rush hour so you can use the carpool lane. He makes $100-300 a day for a few hours of work. [...]

Well, I have to hand it to that guy. That’s definitely a pretty cool (and easy) way to make a buck. There will probably be a dozen copycats out there soon enough.

[...] Personal Finance Advice » Blog Archive » Creative Job – Commute Helper [...]

[...] more | digg story No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTMLallowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong> [...]

It’s an interesting idea, except here in Minneapolis, our carpool lane (nicknamed the “sane-lane”) is also open to people who buy an inexpensive little electronic box. You leave the box in your car, and you can drive in the carpool lane if you have one of these. Depending on where you enter and where you leave, there are listed prices on signs by the entrances. The little box is tied to your credit card or bank account, and the fee is automatically deducted.

There are cameras and such in place, in a somewhat vague attempt to provide security against those who don’t have any little box in their car, but I’m sure that plenty of people don’t always listen to the signs.

The main reason they did this was because Minnesota’s transportation budget is always crap (it seems like half our roads are constantly falling apart). It brings in a little bit of extra cash for the state, and it still kind of gives the incentive to carpool (you get to use it for free).

It does, however, put makes any business like this one pretty useless.

Wouldn’t work here in australia cause our carpool lanes or Transit lanes as they are known over here (T3 for short) require you to have 3 people in the car before you are allowed in the transit lane

Believe it or not, this was an episode of Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry David realized he could pay a prostitute to ride with him. The end results were a comedic spectacular. See HBO for listings .

Just think. People in Houston ride with you for free every day just because you need a rider for the HOV lane and they need a ride. I can’t tell you how many times I picked up free riders. Geez, I could have been charging all this time.

[...] http://www.pfadvice.com/2006/06/21/creative-job-commute-helper/ [...]

this is a wonderful idea. i mean, so simple, so elegant, so profitable. People like this are destined to live well on meager “work” habits. truly brilliant, I applaud you

[...] Personal Finance Advice ? Blog Archive ? Creative Job – Commute Helper – I hate sitting in traffic so this is far from my dream job but this guys gets paid to be your carpool buddy. [...]

[...] How would you like to be paid for just sitting in a car? Well that’s exactly what this man does. The man holds signs up on the road saying that he will charge $100-300 to sit with people for the carpool lane. Prices vary with the amount of traffic. [...]

[...] This guy makes money by sitting in cars so people can drive in the carpool lanes. Will this be Dublin in a few years time? If they build carpool lanes. [...]

Carnival of the Capitalists

There are many great posts for this week’s Carnival of the Capitalists. I particularly enjoyed:Breakeven Point Before Real Returns at The Real Returns Circumventing Late Fee Anger at BusinesspunditCreative Job – Commute Helper at Personal Finance Advi…

[...] Here’s a new twist on an old problem: Some creative (and decidedly brazen) man has carved out a little niche for himself in the commuter hell that is the San Francisco Bay Area. Calling himself a “commute helper,� the man stands at highway entrance ramps near the high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV) with a sign, offering to be a professional passenger for a fee, thereby enabling them to legally use dedicated carpool lanes. [...]

[...] read more | digg story [...]

“Bob Bobberbob Says:

June 23rd, 2006 at 12:47 am
Fusty, when have you ever seen a full carpool lane? The only reason they are attractive is precisely BECAUSE nobody uses them.”

Here in Houston, it’s common for the carpool lanes to back up solid. Sometimes just as bad or worse than the actual freeway like when there is an accident. That is partly to do with the fact that most of ours are seperated from the mainlanes by barriers. I’m surpised people don’t do this more often here. Good Idea but, yeah, too man wacko’s. Maybe if it were a legitimate business that hired people to do it then it would take off…atleast until the government stepped in.

[...] Personal Finance Advice » Blog Archive » Creative Job – Commute Helper [...]

[...] Jeffery Strain in his Personal Finance Advice blog relates a great story about a ‘found’ opportunity: I was at a gathering today when I struck up a conversation with a man who described his job as a “commute helper.â€? [...]

[...] Commute Helper [...]

Wow…that is bizarre. I can’t relate because I work at home full time now. I wonder why they even bother with their cars. Is PT out of the question is SF.

-Dennis

Great idea for a homeless person, eh?

[...] Personal Finance Advice » Blog Archive » Creative Job – Commute Helper. Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

[...] Creative idea.read more | digg story [...]

[...] Page Summary: 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. If there is an accident and traffic is really slow, his price doubles. The slugs work just like other people in town. However there is no guarantee who you are going to ride with each day.read more | digg story              [...]

[...] Creative idea.read more | digg story [...]

[...] A brilliant man came up with the idea of sitting in other peoples cars so they have access to the car pool lane. Turns out he makes close $100 to $300 a day. Click here for story. [...]

[...] I digress.  A great post today, about a guy who saw an opportunity in the car-pool lanes in San Francisco. This guy was [...]

[...] This Is Just Brilliant! Creative Job – Commute Helper Sometimes I’m amazed at the creativity of some people who earn a good living filling needs that [...]

That doesn’t sound like such a great job to me. I wouldn’t want to sit in a car all day for a meager couple hundred bucks.

Find a need and fill it.

Weirdest one I’ve ever heard of.

The best part is he doesn’t have to
pay taxes.

Sounds like a neat idea, but the risk is too high. Who knows how good/bad of drivers people are. And it will probably cost him a fortune to insure himself.

Arthur (Jerry Stiller) did this on an episode of “The King of Queens” years ago.

It’s not such a brilliant idea actually. In jakarta this is very common. Some roads in are designated as “3 in 1″ where in rush hour only cars with three or more people in it can go through. A lot of people offer the service to sit in your car for only 60 cents or even less. T

[...] hahaha, awesome job. commute helper. [...]

[...] A man who described his job as a commute helper. [...]

Will only take one person doing it to get killed getting into our out of a car and then it will outlawed. But good on him, not my cup of tea, some real freaks out there.

Next step is to take the enterprise Mexican: rent a van filled with illegals (you could easily fit 10 to 15 in the right sized van) and drive slowly down the HOV lane with signs that say honk to recieve a warm body, collect 10 dollars from for each one issued, provide the illegal with bus fare to get to a meet-up point, repeat for return-home commute traffic and pay the illegals the $2 a day that they are worth.

BTW, his math is way off: 2 to 3 round trips = 4 to 6 rides and @10 per ride, that’s only about half of the $100 low-end figure he says he’s paid.

[...] well…maybe i could move to Californee and be just like this man. [...]

[...] would you like to be paid for just sitting in a car? Well that’s exactly what this man does. The man holds signs up on the road saying that he [...]