All we had in common was that we were going the same way. She nodded, and we took off for her office in Milpitas. Encased in our metal boxes, we are in our own worlds, slogging to work and home. With technology, these services match people and routes, facilitate communication between driver and rider and handle the financial part of the transaction. But for most of us, the biggest challenge to carpooling is not technical. Seventy percent of Bay Area drivers commute solo, according to a recent poll. What incentive do they have to share a ride and coordinate their schedules with total strangers? To change behaviors, Scoop, Waze and others try to build a sense of community among users. I want to use the HOV lane for more than a few miles. All I need is one passenger. After five trips, drivers can claim their earnings by providing bank account information. One of my passengers was a young student from India, interning at a San Jose company before going back to college in Dallas. He talked about how improved internet access would change his country for the better. And another was a French accountant at PayPal who talked with me about the upcoming French election and Polish politics. With each ride, the initial social awkwardness quickly dissipated. We were road warriors sharing a mission, after all. Scoop gives regular etiquette tips to users, such as advising passengers to always sit in the front seat — not the back. Veena had turned to carpooling out of a sort of desperation. She had been driving alone each day and hating it. She was losing her temper more with her two children. She knew she had to change something. When she started using Waze, she and her husband were both nervous. He waited outside with her, making eye contact with her drivers as he said goodbye. And things got better at home. I took a wrong turn and pleaded with her to give me a good rating. I dropped her off at a nondescript office building, waved and went on my way. My day had warmed up a bit thanks to Veena. She helped me feel less alone on the road. Selfishly, I want a shot at that HOV lane. Michelle Quinn is a former business columnist for the Bay Area News Group. Prior to that, she was the Silicon Valley correspondent at Politico covering tech policy and politics. She has also covered the tech industry at the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. She was a blogger for the New York Times.
