Car Pool Log: 2006 08-22

Black luxury SUV, tan interiors. Driver arrived with Second Passenger already in place. The person in front of me took a back seat and I stood back to wait for another car since they already had three. The woman behind me was anxious and asked the Driver if she would take a fourth. I was a little taken aback and confused (it being early in the morning.) As she was about to take the seat she asked if I wanted it. I told her thank you, rather gruffly, as I felt pressured into this. I hadn’t asked the Driver about taking a fourth since there wasn’t a line behind me and I hadn’t been waiting long.

KFOG on the radio, clean car. A plastic case holding a radio remote hanging on the back of the Driver’s seat.

There was a lot of congestion before the toll this morning. Driver, Second and Third Passengers were talking about the traffic, the different means of getting to the car pool lane (taking the West Grand entrance), and car pooling in general. Driver said that she got roped into it recently after BART made all the spots in the parking lots $1. She said she had a meeting to get to and therefore decided to pick someone up.

On the bridge they spoke of the cost differences between driving in and parking in the garage of her office building versus taking the train in for her and the Second Passenger who I believed was her husband.

Third Passenger said that he used to drive his son to his school in the Sunset to arrive for quarter of six. Then he would take the underground MUNI to get to work. Driver was amazed by this. “Did he have sports in the morning?” she asked.

“Yes, and then the idea was that he would drive from school and pick me up at work,” he said.

The three of them began talking about car accidents.

“I had never been in a car accident,” Driver said, knocking on the wood paneling. “I got two tickets within the first few weeks of having my license though. The first one was for driving 49 in a 25 mph zone. My mother was like, ‘Oh no!’ And then, you know teenagers, we were all gathered and loitering and I was the one who got the ticket. Can you believe that,” she turned to Second Passenger. “In my mother’s car!”

Driver was unsure as to where to drop us off.

“Usually by the bus terminal or sometimes past Market,” Third Passenger suggested.

“Are you going past Market?” she asked him.

“Yes,” he said. “And you?” he asked me.

“The corner of Howard and Fremont is good for me,” I said.

Since they were going past Market I asked her to drop me off by the bus terminal on the Fremont side. As I got out I knocked the plastic case holding the remote control into the street. I got out and found the case, handed it to Third Passenger, but had trouble locating the remote.

“Was that a piece of plastic?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. I located the remote and handed it to Third Passenger.

“I’m very sorry,” I said to Driver.

“That’s okay,” Driver said with sincerity.