Nothing casual about the car pool
In the land of mass transit and commuting, there is a bright beacon in the mass transit bump grind and wait system, and it's called...drum roll please...the casual car pool. It sounds strange when you explain it to your parents, "yes mom, a stranger drives up, and I get their car..."
Truth be told, it's become an important source of ideas for blogging these days. Now, the general rule is no talking, but about one out of three cars has people who like that to chat and get to know each other (we start our ride in Berkeley after all). For example, I befriended Adam Browning founder of Vote Solar by reading him his horoscope during one ride (he has become a trusted resource for helping me understand solar initiatives), I learned about an under reported environmental disaster in Peru (coming soon to a blog near you), and just this morning, I met an icon in Berkeley, THE BERKELEY BIRD HOUSE MAN (he makes all of his bird houses from refurbished materials)! (I'm visiting his gallery next Monday so stay tuned for photos and video). And..I convinced him it's high time to start making chicken coops so I can purchase one from him!
Now if only I could work in a way to exercise during commuting time. Oh wait..there's a way to do that~ and here's a video of people doing just that in Copenhagen.
"Casual car pools" or "ad hoc car pools" are informal car pools that form when drivers and passengers meet – without specific prior arrangement – at designated locations. There are a number of East Bay morning meeting locations, which are listed below. Drivers drop passengers off at Fremont and Mission Streets (or nearby) in downtown San Francisco. There is also evening return service from San Francisco to some of the East Bay locations.
Truth be told, it's become an important source of ideas for blogging these days. Now, the general rule is no talking, but about one out of three cars has people who like that to chat and get to know each other (we start our ride in Berkeley after all). For example, I befriended Adam Browning founder of Vote Solar by reading him his horoscope during one ride (he has become a trusted resource for helping me understand solar initiatives), I learned about an under reported environmental disaster in Peru (coming soon to a blog near you), and just this morning, I met an icon in Berkeley, THE BERKELEY BIRD HOUSE MAN (he makes all of his bird houses from refurbished materials)! (I'm visiting his gallery next Monday so stay tuned for photos and video). And..I convinced him it's high time to start making chicken coops so I can purchase one from him!
Now if only I could work in a way to exercise during commuting time. Oh wait..there's a way to do that~ and here's a video of people doing just that in Copenhagen.
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- groups:
- green blog
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- tags:
- San Francisco, Berkeley, Commuting, casual car pool, 1 more
