Jump in, the water is nice

There is this new thing, I don't think they have it everywhere. Lyft calls them 'lines' and Uber calls them 'pools', but they are the same thing. Basically the way it works is that there are several people who request rides at the same time. When they do so there is the option to get a lower cost if you will go with other people in the car at the same time. What this amounts to is a carpool where you have 1-4 folks who are in the car at the same time and thereby split the total cost of a ride. For my taste as a rider, it is a hokey deal and not worth the savings on a short trip; I don't want to be in the car any longer than I have to. But there are many folks who use this exclusively in SF. I have tried to profile them and basically have come up with two types: people who are cheap and people who kinda get a kick out of it.

This setup takes the ride sharing idea to the ultimate level. What you have are a driver, me, and several complete strangers in 1 car for an unspecified amount of time and no one really knows where we are going next, driver included. The unexpected turns come from the fact that the app is in control and can add new riders at any time and the driver is required by the app to use the internal navigation and not deviate. All these factors together equal a great roulette wheel of opportunity and awkwardness that no one in the car can predict.

Some pools are great, others are some of the most awkward moments one can experience. The shared space of your personal conveyance suddenly inhabited by complete wild cards and potential for the unbelievable multitudes of life to establish themselves at any moment. As a driver I both invite this unknown and am completely weary of it. You just never know what you are going to get.

Donald Trump's Pacifica

After a slow few hours on the road this afternoon, I was about to head home and get back online for some job searching. I was slow on the switch though and picked up a ride. At first, I was fairly happy because the lady I was to drive came out with a suitcase which usually means SFO and $$$. This was not the case.

After loading her two, very hefty suitcases into my trunk my optimism was dashed when my phone informed me we were headed to Pacifica, not SFO. Great, a ride out of the city, to the wrong side of drive time traffic only to get stuck with no one to take back to the city. This was why I wanted to head home.

With my passenger already in the car, I had no choice but to head south. After making a wrong turn in a futile effort to avoid some of the traffic and finally getting back on course, I settled in. Rides like this can be kind of awkward. This was going to be a 30 min plus trip and with a literal stranger in your car 30 minutes can be vary painful if they have no conversation in them. I finally got some luck in this aspect.

As a slow start in my settling in for the drive I asked my patron, "Mind if I turn on NPR? If you weren't here that is what I would be listening to." Bingo, we have liftoff. "Yes!" she replied. "I love NPR." Things are looking up.

The current show on NPR was doing a piece on past Vice Presidential candidates. They mentioned Geraldine Ferraro, of whom my patron was a fan.

She was a nice Australian expat and we spent the next 30 minutes in great conversation. Just another example of how serendipity and bay area charm can lead to some good vibes and good conversation on the road.