Slugging It In

In D.C.'s Virginia suburbs, some 10,000 people have figured out a way to reduce their commuting time by as much as 75 percent while spending no money. It's called "slugging," and it's a nearly pure example of spontaneous order.

Slugging started by spontaneous eruption and runs by perpetual motion…. No government agency sanctions slugging, runs it, regulates it, promotes it or thought it up. The Census Bureau, which tracks most forms of commuting, knows nothing about slugging. In slugging, there is no supervisor, dispatcher or schedule, no ticket or fare.

No rules, either, except those that have developed among those who do it. No wonder it works.