Cross-bay commuters may soon have a new way to get to work. Well, not new — revived.
A grassroots movement is resurrecting the Bay Area morning tradition known as “casual carpooling,” which died off in the pandemic.
For the uninitiated: East Bay commuters line up at intersections, BART stations, highway overpasses, or other meeting places. Drivers swing by, pick up the first two people in line — enough to qualify for discounted tolls — then head west on the Bay Bridge into San Francisco. Passengers dismount at predetermined locations and, back in the day, would typically contribute about $1 for gas.
Commuters have long called for the return of the practice. But this time, organizers are serious.
“We all wanted it to happen, but there was no start date,” said Camille Bermudez, an East Bay resident who is spearheading the revived carpool movement. “There was no true ‘We are all collectively choosing to come to our casual carpools at this date.’”
Bermudez said community surveys indicate that the best time to start may be mid-August, when school resumes. Commuters can check the movement’s website for updates about start times and pickup locations.
The planned resurgence comes at a tumultuous time for Bay Area commuters. Muni slashed bus service on several lines in an effort to close a budget deficit. Lawmakers are scrambling to save BART and AC Transit from “massive, devastating” service cuts. The program that allows electric vehicles in carpool lanes is set to expire at the end of the year.
At the same time, more San Franciscans are returning to the office as remote work loses its grip on the city.
“I really think that the community wants this,” said Bermudez, who first carpooled with her father in high school and continued when she started working in San Francisco. “It’s a need.”
Casual carpooling is a quirky tradition. In one unspoken rule, only the driver can initiate conversation. Break that, and you might get a scolding.
The discussion board on the defunct website Casual Car Pool News is full of warnings. “Oakland driver – anger management,” one 2011 post is titled. “Too-inquisitive driver – Claremont & College,” reads one from 2009.
“Please, clean your car!” a passenger begged.
But many commuters are stoked for the tradition to return, with all its quirks. Several volunteers plan to hold signs promoting the carpools at high-traffic intersections over the next two weeks. Bermudez wants to get 1,000 survey responses by July 13.
Shakaylah Leonard, 32, a nonprofit manager who lives in Pinole, said she’d love to have the carpool option again. Following a move from El Cerrito, she started taking the ferry after the tradition died off.
“At first it seemed like it would be scary getting in a car with strangers,” Leonard said. “But it’s almost like they became your family, because you start seeing familiar faces.”
Jessica Walitt, 45, lives in Oakland and started picking up carpoolers on the way to work in 2017. She bemoaned the loss of the casual carpool.
“It was great,” Walitt said. “And then it all went away, and now I’m back to sitting in line at the toll plaza.”
As she sits alone in traffic, she sometimes thinks of her former passengers.
“[After] the pandemic, I have no idea what happened to them all,” she said. “Do they still live here? Do they still work? Did they retire? Did they move?”