European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 16, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday january 16. 1990 the stars and Stripe hitchhiking plan puts commuters in fast Lane Burke a. It a it a a group of Well dressed hitchhikers was in arc wailing when Row Mcmurray pulled into the rolling Valley mall parking Tol in search of the a warm bodies Quot that would enable her to use the interstate express and gel to work on time. It s a win win situation forc Gerybo by Quot Mcmurray said As she piled two riders into her car. Drivers get to use the High occupancy vehicle lanes which can Cut 20 minutes or More Oft their commute to downtown Washington. Passengers get a free trip. Without government direction or subsidy the informal instant car Pool system has evolved into a unique commuting method that relieves pressure on the subsidized bus system cuts congestion and saves commuters Money. Transportation researchers Call it the a Springfield underground Quot because it started with the opening 15 years ago of Hov lanes Down the Center of 1395 to the Washington suburb of Springfield a. The two Lane Hov lanes Are restricted to buses and cars earn ing three or More passengers during Rush hour. Most car pooling involves people from the same office or the same neighbourhood or those matched by formal programs. But in Springfield and the nearby bedroom Community of Burke ifs stand there and take your chances. The Only other area where the instant car pooling occurs on a Large scale is at bus stops leading to the cast Entrance of the Bay Bridge Between Oakland and 5an Francisco according to a study by the Urban Institute. Artel Reno who directs transportation projects for the Urban Institute said he has taken a slide show on Springfield s hitchhiking commuting system to Houston Minneapolis Seattle and los Angeles. But researchers caution that several conditions have to be met if such systems Are to work. Among them a at least 500 commuters must take part. A Hov lanes must be established that save enough Lime to give Drivers a reason to pick up passengers. A a parallel bus system is needed to give hitchhiking commuters an alternative if no cars show up. One drawback of the system is people s reluctance to climb into a car with a stranger. But riders Sec Little risk with three people in the car. Lines of Well dressed hitchhikers Wail fur rides at a parking lot in Burke. A. A suburb of Washington. Quot a requirement of two persons per vehicle in order to use the Hov lanes would undoubtedly result in a much higher level of psychological resistance to instant car pooling Quot Reno said in a study or the Springfield system. The Quot Springfield underground Quot has been so successful that nearly All the spaces in Park and ride lots along the route Are taken up by hitchhikers ranging from stylishly dressed single women to uniformed military officers heading for the Pentagon. At one lot. Surveyors watched 553 people gel into cars with strangers and Only 25 Board buses that passed by the lot. Drivers Call out their destinations and the next riders in line pile in Mcmurray alternates Between driving and hitching rides at the mall located about 20 Miles Southwest of downtown Washington. A fall we need is warm bodies for the express Lane a she said. Dottie Cousineau director of com Muter programs for Fairfax county said the system has freed morning buses for other areas some riders also hitch rides in Washington to get Home but Cousineau said the system does t work As Well because workers have to get to limited pickup Points including ones near the Washington Monument and at the Pentagon Cousineau said she had never heard of a complaint about the system from a Driver or a rider. Quot i guess it s because it s entirely voluntary Quot she said. Instant car pooling has fostered a new Riding culture and etiquette. The 30-minute rides May feature the uncomfortable silence More common in elevators or on the other hand convivial commutes that cover the Gamut of political and social discussion. On the morning after the . Invasion of Panama a military officer on his Way to the Pentagon discussed the timing of the operation. On another Day in another car. An agriculture department worker criticized farm subsidies. But the most common topics Are Lac weather and the difficulty of getting to work in the nation s capital. For the commuter a round trip Between Fairfax county and Washington can Cost As much As $6.80 a Day a 12,40 each Way on buses and the subway and s2 to Park at a metro station. With the ride snaring program the trip is free for the passengers. One private lot owned by a movie House was Selling parking stickers that included their value in movie tickets. Drivers still hav. To pay for Gas and downtown parking but they get to work faster. Metropolitan transit officials like the system too although bus ridership has decreased on the route. Quot More Power to them Quot metro spokeswoman Marilyn Dicus said. A we All have the same goal a to get More than one person in a Diplomat from wire reports Moscow a a soviet Diplomat with the code name Quot Donald f,.�?~ who spied for the Fri and Cia has been caught and sentenced la death after confessing the communist Paity daily pravda reported sunday. The newspaper said he was one of the most import Lant of about 30 Western spies caught by the soviets in recent years. In Washington officials confirmed that the Sovil Union had arcs red the a genl and expressed mild Surprise that the russians had made Public his capture. While american agencies formally declined comment on soviet recons of the spy s Anesi one official expressed regret Over the Mailer and indicated that the agent had provided Impo Nant service to the United Stales. Quot the positive thing is that regardless of what May be said in Public we ran this Guy for a Long time Quot the official said adding that Quot Donald was arrested several weeks ago and that american intelligence agencies have known of his capture for some time. A spokesman for the Cia declined to confirm or deny the report of the arrest and the Fri also refused to comment. As a general practice neither american nor soviet espionage agencies admit that someone has worked for them and until lately the russians have Seldom conceded that foreign agents have penetrated their ranks. Such disclosures Are More common under president spied for ., Mikhail s. Gorbachev although the reason for this is not Clear. Pravda claimed that Quot Donald began spying Tor the United Stales in november 1961, when he was a ranking Sovil representative at . Headquarters in new York. He supposedly met an Fri agent in the Street after making his acquaintance at a party information changed hands and the soviet was recruited As a spy in Ravda said. It said the soviet Diplomat with Access 10 classified information on a Range of topics fed data regularly to the Fri and Cia. A Donald gave the americans political and economic information As Well As data on chemical and bacteriological defences and on diseases affecting Nee com and wheal harvests. Pravda said. He worked for the Cia in India the newspaper said where he was allegedly equipped by the United states with sophisticated devices that enabled him 10 Send information from unlikely places for example a bus As it passed by the . Embassy. White in India Quot Donald of a was warned that a Cia leak to the Media had disclosed that a soviet official at the United nations had been recruited As a spy by the americans in the 1960s. Pravda said. The news Pul the Man on his guard but he failed to Nolick he was under heavy sure Illance and was caught in an unspecified act of espionage pravda said. He confessed and was sentenced to death the newspaper pravda reports said. The pravda report painted a glamorous role for a Kab official cot. Alexander s. Duchanin who it said spared no Vitorts to search for the Man like Quot a Needle in a Duchanin has been criticized by a commission investigating charges of official corruption extending All the Way to politburo member Yegor k. Migachev. The article could Only serve to help the reputation of Duchanin who freed a former party official who May have been the sole link Between Migachev and regional party officials convicted of taking bribes. Migachev 71. The conservative Force on the politburo has denied any wrongdoing. An aide to Moscow prosecutor Telman Gzlyan who lodged the charges against Migachev said sunday that the newly created Kab press Center conducted a pub ii relations Campaign in Duchanin s behalf before the commission on corruption reported to the soviet Congress of people s deputies in december. Officers of the soviet stale Security police distributed leaflets to party deputies lauding Duchanin s service specifically crediting him with unmasking Western spies said the aide. Roman Chervony Sci. Several Curry no and former officials said they were intrigued by the timing of sunday s announcement in the midst of Gorbachev s most serious Domestic political crisis but one noted that word of the arrest has been timely just a was they re wrapping up the
