Arlington has a secret.
The county quietly spends $10,000 each year to fund the website slug-lines.com – a forum for sluggers, commuters who hitch rides with other drivers to meet minimum passenger requirements for HOV lanes. Arlington has done this for the past ten years, according to Chris Hamilton, Arlington County Commuter Services bureau chief.
Hamilton told the online magazine Miller-McCune that the county is happy to keep the fund a secret and allow the slug lines to operate independently, without “anybody else to muck it up.”
The funds come from Arlington’s $8 million commuter services budget, according to the article.
“It’s not public knowledge because we don’t want people to know; it works fine the way it is – that people think it’s just this little slugging community,” Hamilton said.
