Transportation Spending by Low-Income California Households ...

Vans and Shuttles
Demand-response seems best suited for situations where a group of
people have either the same origin (say, a public housing project) or the
same destination (a large employer or group of employers, a social
services center, a health center, etc.). One option for making
transportation more affordable would be for the employer or agency to
which the individual is traveling to subsidize the shuttle service.
Jitneys
Jitneys combine the characteristics of taxi service, carpooling, and
formal paratransit services. They generally have semi-fixed routes, carry
several passengers at a time, and are much cheaper than taxis. Because
they are often faster and cheaper than public transit as well, jitney
services can take a fair bite out of transit revenues, and transit providers
often show strong opposition to jitney service.
San Francisco once had a thriving jitney fleet, but as Cervero (1997)
reports, “[b]ecause of mounting public transit deficits and pressures to
protect Municipal Railway (Muni) trolleybuses and streetcars from
competition, the city issued no new jitney permits after 1972” (p. 41).
Moreover, after Proposition K passed in 1978, jitney permits were not
allowed to transfer from one operator to another. In addition, increases
in liability insurance requirements and in insurance premiums helped to
shut down the industry. Today, only one jitney service is left in the City
of San Francisco, running between the Montgomery BART station on
Market Street and the Caltrain depot at Fourth and Townsend. 26
Reducing the barriers to operating jitney services would very likely
reduce monetary and time costs for some low-income individuals. An
article in the Harvard Journal on Legislation concludes that,
[J]itneys can contribute invaluably and permanently to efforts to improve
the economic prospects of America’s inner-city residents. Of course, in some
cities, jitneys may be a total flop. Perhaps their remarkable success in New
York and Miami is attributable to the presence of large numbers of immigrants
accustomed to relying on jitneys to serve their transportation needs. However,
the question for legislators ought not to be whether jitneys will in fact
successfully augment the transportation services available to our poorest
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26 San Francisco County Transportation Authority (2002).
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