LOOSE ENDS: Car pooling … how romantic!

by PAM HERSH Special Writer
    Forty years ago, I had an affair — of the heart — in a car.
    Car pooling with a group of Washington, D.C.- based, young professionals to and from my job at Fort Meade, Md., was the highlight of my day. I got to sit very close to Paul, who was, in my eyes, the spitting image of Paul Newman.
    Paul Newman’s death on Friday not only conjured up my visions of Mr. Newman on screen and on salad dressing bottles, but brought back my visions of Paul the Car Pooler.
    I thank my fantasy relationship with my car pool colleague as the basis for my current passion for pursuing the development of transportation strategies other than the single-occupant vehicle.
    I am fully aware that this fantasy is not quite as sexy as my pining after Paul Newman and/or Paul the Car Pooler, but, at my age, dreaming about a world in which we have reduced the number of cars on the roads is thrilling and gratifying for me.
    Thanks to the exorbitant price of gasoline, my fantasy is becoming more and more of a reality. The Greater Mercer Transportation Management Association (GMTMA) — a local organization dedicated to promoting transportation options other than the single- occupant vehicle — reports that registrations in its ridesharing matching program have increased dramatically over the past several months.
    For decades, car pooling had an air of desperation about it; only individuals who had no other transportation options whatsoever participated in car pooling. In the late ‘60s, my friends and I car pooled because everyone was impoverished (first job out of college), cities all over the country were facing public safety crises, we had only one ramshackle car among us, and there was no transit between Washington, D.C., and Fort Meade. But we were an anomaly, and ride sharing got more anomalous as disposable income grew and gas prices remained somewhat reasonable.
    But, according to Sandra Brillhart, the GMTMA executive director, the current economic meltdown, in combination with the high cost of gasoline, has led to individuals and employers searching for ways to ease the costs of commuting. The TMA is experiencing a much-higher-than-usual number of calls and Web site registrations from commuters who are exploring car pooling, as well as seeking information about bicycle routes and transit opportunities.
    GMTMA is part of a computerized statewide data base that matches commuters based on their home and work destinations, times and routes of travel. More than 3,000 people are registered in Mercer County. Once registered, commuters receive a list of potential partners with whom they can car pool. Car poolers are reporting savings of hundreds of dollars a year, and the New Jersey Department of Transportation has encouraged transportation matchmaking by offering a $100 gas card for any new car pool of two commuters or more. The car pool marriage must last for at least 24 days over a two- month period.
    All this talk about matchmaking/partnerships/ relationships, plus a Loose Ends column a few years ago about speed-dating, inspired Ms. Brillhart to create a matchmaking process that would make any yenta jealous.
    “I came up with the term Zip- Matching for a ride-share speed- dating concept — the zip being a double entendre (speed/zip code). As a longtime married woman, I never heard of speed-dating until I read about it in a Loose Ends column — and then this recent demand for car pooling made me think that this speed-dating process could help us all find the right car companion(s). People would congregate in areas designated for a specific zip code, county, etc. They would be given a few minutes to meet/chat/exchange info with prospective matches, then to move on to another person after a designated amount of time — probably two or three minutes. At the end of the event, the organizers (TMA or employer) would collect from the participants the names of the people with whom they would like to share a ride. The organizer would send names and numbers to people who are on each other’s list,” Ms. Brillhart said.
    And who knows what auxiliary social benefits might occur from these transportation-compatible unions? In those singles ads, the desire to share long walks on the beach may be replaced by a desire to share transportation costs.
    Even though I was devastated that Mr. Paul the Car Pooler changed jobs and left the car pool after only six months of togetherness, I hope he found his Joanne Woodward, both in his personal and commuting life.
A longtime resident of Princeton, Pam Hersh is vice president for government and community affairs with Princeton HealthCare System. She is a former managing editor of The Princeton Packet