Loneliness is a real issue in the Grand Duchy. Residents bemoan the lack of human interaction, and with increased commute delays, people have little time to find a mate.
Newly formed development house Art(e)Phish.AL are set to change all that with their brand-new dating app CommuterLove, designed especially for Luxembourg commuters who spend most of their free time in slow-moving traffic.
Founder Amy Donahue describes sitting in her car for what seemed like days, travelling from Potaschberg to Cents while lamenting her non-existent love life, when she realized she was literally surrounded by hundreds of other lonely singles.
“Why should we lose hours swiping through Tinder profiles when we return from work at midnight, or waste weekend time going to loud bars, when we can find love right here on the A1 while we’re heading to the office,” she said. “How many times did I see an attractive driver next to me, and I thought, yummy, I really like the way he indicated before merging.”
“It’s not always the fumes that make you dizzy,” she added.
Dennis Farnendin, Art(e)Phish.AL’s lead developer, says the matching algorithm is based on users’ driving behavior, taking into account the tendency to change lanes for no apparent reason, throw cigarette butts out of the window, aggressively beep the horn, and throw one’s arms up and curse at strangers.
Once a match is identified, the app will initiate a small fender bender so that the parties may pull over to the side of the road under the guise of exchanging insurance information, but can instead make plans for a date or hook up on the spot.
Bank employee Sebastien Croisverge, who’s been using the app since earlier this month, is particularly enthusiastic.
“I spend so much time on the road between Thionville and Kirchberg that I thought I would never find love,” he said. “Since using CommuterLove, I’ve been on like, six, maybe seven, dates. It would have been more, but I got stuck in traffic on the way to a couple.”
“And I’ve only got whiplash once,” he added.
Art(e)Phish.AL have yet to comment on rumors that they are developing a similar app called SideEye for public transport users.
Contributed by Lowell Stepopoulos