1. Keepin it Casual in SF

2. Relatively little is known about casual carpoolers and their true motivation. Why does it exist in only three cities in the US? What do these places have in common? Who are these people and what drives them to use an unregulated, ungoverned system? What does the persistence of casual carpool say about the society we live in today? How has this no-tech bubble survived in the software capital of the world? Thats exactly what Carma and the TSRC at UC Berkeley have spent the last 9 months researching. 3. In San Francisco, Houston and Washington DC a system has been in place for decades that weathered Dotcom bubbles, economic depression, and clashes with local government regulation. Commuters banded together and found a way to avoid morning congestion leading to the SF Bay Bridge by taking advantage of existing HOV lane infrastructure These people werent neighbors, or friends; what they had was a shared problem and a desire for an efficient solution. The Most Overlooked Sharing Solution 4. Their solution to finding these extra people to travel with was not what you might first assume in San Francisco. The solution is not even low-tech, it is no-tech. This is truly grassroots - hitchhiking has more technology! Twenty-three locations in the East Bay have Casual Carpool pick up locations, which drop-off in San Francisco. The process is simple: riders line up on the curb, drivers arrive and allow two passengers into their car. The newly formed carpool then darts off in the direction of the highway. Once the passengers alight in SF they go their separate ways and may never meet again. How Does It Work? 5. The concept is one of mutual benefit, not of profit. Riders benefit by getting a free, comfortable ride into the city and drivers halve their commute time by avoiding congestion getting on to the Bay Bridge (why there are still cash toll booths operating baffles me!). The benefit to both is that they never sacrifice their flexibility. The Benefits 6. Keep up-to-date or get in touch @iTresell Adapted from a blog at: https://medium.com/keepin-it-casual-sf/459d01ada7dc Thanks to www.carmacarpool.com for the support on this piece Statistics based on research run in 2014 by UC Berkeley and Carma Carpooling