Come Ride with Me

If you recall the Eisenhower years, you probably also recall the advertising jingle:  "See the USA in your Chevrolet!"   If you have the song stuck in your head now, you are no doubt hearing the voice of the late  Dinah Shore . I could sing a rendition of this song about ride sharing, but I don't exactly "see" much of the country in my travels. What I hear though, are stories of passengers from all around the USA and World. You could say I 'travel vicariously' through my riders. I especially enjoy trips of long enough duration, to allow me to ask questions about their various states and homelands. There are several businesses in our Metro area that employ a great number of people from India. One of my early passengers was a young man who had only been in the United States for two months. I picked him up one winter morning to take him to work. Although I'm not a great judge of age, I would guess he was in his late 30's. We were having a nice v...

I will admit to being 'directionally-challenged'. So much so, I used to 'get lost' the first time I was bound for pretty much anywhere. It has been a lifelong battle. I have gone from spoken directions... "Go five miles and turn left the first road after the bridge" ... to reading road maps, to printing pages off Mapquest, to the miracle of GPS. The road maps and Mapquest worked best with a co-pilot - but the wonderful GPS verbally directs me to my destination without any other human intervention. As I said... a miracle. Ride Sharing simplifies navigation, in that both graphic and verbal directions are provided for picking up a passenger and delivering them to their destination. Sometimes, however... things can go wrong. Those blasted satellites screw up and the 'destination' is not where the passenger is waiting. The "Call Rider" feature on the driver's app not only allows me to connect with my passenger but also allows them to redirec...

It is not unusual to have a dozen rides in a day of RSD. As much as one ride can be the same as another, there are those that stand out... passengers I will long remember... conversations I cannot possibly forget. A few months ago, I was pinged to a fitness center late one Thursday afternoon. There, I picked up Rajesh, still wearing his ear buds - fresh from his workout. Rajesh is one of my many passengers from India, who lives and works in the local Metro area. I greet him as he gets in the back of my car and note on my phone, he isn't going very far. As we pull out of the parking lot, Rajesh asks if we can stop across the street so he can pick up some fast food to take home. I agree, but make him add the stop on his phone app. We pull into the restaurant. He says he prefers the drive-thru and the line is quite long, in spite of there being two lanes. As we wait to place his order, Rajesh says, "Can I ask you a question?"  What am I to say? I'm captive for severa...