The nearly 50-year-old Bay Area tradition of Casual Carpool, or getting rides to work with complete strangers who want carpool-lane privileges, was discontinued once the pandemic hit. But Casual Carpool is poised to possibly return this summer.
The Bay Area has had a commuting life-hack since long before the word “hack” was meant as a good thing. It’s the old tradition of Casual Carpool, where cross-Bay commuters would stand at a designated spot before or after work, get in a car with complete strangers (sometimes for the cost of a dollar or two), and the driver of said car would be able to drive the whole carload to or from work in the faster, cheaper carpool lane. The whole thing actually started during the 1970s in response to a public transit meltdown, and the informal and unorganized tradition continued right up until COVD arrived to make the practice of riding with strangers a completely unhealthy arrangement.
The Chronicle wondered back in March if Casual Carpool would ever return. What they did not know was, at the time, someone was already working on bringing Casual Carpool back, albeit in the form of a small commuter activist Facebook group…