Filed under: Etc.
The Commute Helper gets you into carpool lane for $10
I have a brother who spends a good 50% of his time daydreaming about how to make money with inventions no one has thought of yet. Despite my protest that all the good stuff's been invented already, he continues to concoct imaginary money makers. I need to introduce my brother to this guy from San Francisco, who earns $100 to $300 a day from his invention.
This highly lucrative produce is his own ass, which he rents out to San Fran commuters who are willing to pay him to get a pass to drive in the car pool lane. The idea came to him when he was stuck in traffic one day watching people zip by in the far left lane. He decided to rent himself out for $10 to $20 a trip so that other people who didn't want to sit in traffic for two hours could bypass jams in the fast moving car pool lane.
The first time he walked out on to the freeway entrance with a sign that read, "Traffic is bad. Spend 2 hours or pay me $10 and get there in 20 minutes." It worked, and afterward he left his first paying customer, walked to the other side of the freeway, and caught a paying gig back to where he started. With business in full swing, he reportedly makes 2 to 3 roundtrips during the morning commute and 3 to 5 round trips during the evening rush, and if there's an accident that slows traffic even further, he may double his price. Genius, pure genius.
Thanks for the tip, Mike!
[Source: Personal Finance Advice]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
boulderhorn 4:15PM (5/15/2007)
This guy is brilliant, in a Guiness drinking "BRILLIANT" sort of way. I wonder if he will start getting regular customers who feel that their time is more valuable than the 10 bucks. If i were a CEO or VP and wasn't getting drivin in, I would pay this guy $20 round-trip every day as long as i didn't have wait for him.
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Big Mike Wood 4:21PM (5/15/2007)
Great idea. Maybe he should start a whole company around this idea, including the option to pick someone up at a predetermined location instead of the onramp to the freeway. If you could schedule this in advance it would be even more valuable.
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Jeymal 4:31PM (5/15/2007)
Sounds like a glorified jitney to me. Not really a new idea, but it's great he can cash in on it.
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Duncan 4:33PM (5/15/2007)
In Washington, DC we have a whole organized system for this called slugging. People meet at certain street corners or parking lots and drivers pick them up to use the HOV lanes. However, no one gets paid, the passengers just get a free ride to work. You can find a website explaining it here: http://www.slug-lines.com/
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Nate 4:52PM (5/15/2007)
@Duncan, Much like your slug-lines, the bay area has "Casual Carpool" those not in the know must be the ones picking this guy up...
http://rideshare.511.org/carpooling/casual.asp
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saimin 4:57PM (5/15/2007)
I wonder how long 'til one of the city cops rains on his parade and cites him for "hitch hiking." Kudos to his ingenuity though
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Jeff 5:02PM (5/15/2007)
I'm not sure if this is really genius since this was actually the story behind a King of Queens TV episode a while ago.
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Dumale 5:38PM (5/15/2007)
yeah... we definitely have "causal carpool" at various Bay Area locations and what this guy is doing is nothing new.
His only thing is that he's asking to be a paid dummy for the carpool lane.
This means first one to ante up the money gets the dummy - drivers need not wait inline for people to get in their vehicle.
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Mike 5:40PM (5/15/2007)
Great idea, until the sociopath wielding a $10 bill and a 9mm handgun stops for a "car pool pass"...or the gang bangers looking to score a quick $100 by robbing the idiot on the side of the road.
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skantilous 5:40PM (5/15/2007)
@duncan, @nate
we have this thing in new york city called the metro, it's dirty, but it does the job.
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Peter 5:46PM (5/15/2007)
How long before he gets into the car of some nut with a gun. Or someone with bad intentions copies him?
No strangers in my car, kthxbye
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Ligor 5:52PM (5/15/2007)
I agree with #9
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Joe 6:23PM (5/15/2007)
skantilous - who is this we you speak of?
As a New Yorker you would know that there is no "metro" in this city. We have a subway and we call it "the subway."
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Tom 6:46PM (5/15/2007)
This must be the funniest way of making money that I have seen. There are of course alternatives to prostituting your body as baggage. For the online world, I wanted to point out a company that I am with called Bravisa – http://www.bravisa.com
Bravisa is a new online tool for people to make retailer sized profits by selling a wide range of products without having to buy, stock, ship, or service those products. Simply pick or design your products, markup from wholesale prices to set your selling prices, and link the products to your blog with a widget. Bravisa takes care of order fulfillment, payment processing, and customer service. You earn money from every sale without spending anything. If you don’t find something you’re excited to sell, let us know and we will contact the manufacturers and try our best to sign them up.
As we are just launching and made the site for people like yourself, please let me know if you find this useful.
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Barney 6:55PM (5/15/2007)
So this guy gets paid for what a blowup doll couldn't do. It seems to defuse the purpose of the HOV lane. I think what Duncan refers to, is more legit. At least the extra passenger is getting a needed ride.
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evasive 7:25PM (5/15/2007)
man he must've stole this idea from carlos mencia. i remeber carlos joking about this.
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G-man 7:57PM (5/15/2007)
This wouldn't work in Atlanta. The HOV lanes are usually just as backed up as the regular lanes. They might save 5 minutes. I wouldn't pay 10$ to save 5 min.
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PiCASSO 8:21PM (5/15/2007)
Please don't solicit your company here, Tom. This is not the place.
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iQuack 9:04PM (5/15/2007)
Shows creativeness that results from free markets.
BRAVO!
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brian hague 9:04PM (5/15/2007)
Am I the only one who thinks he can make more than $500 a day with his "ass" in san-fran
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