Pittsburgh's Jitneys- the Invisible Subway (2014, rentals, credit card)

[crae09]

Originally Posted by Herodotus

The bus line jitneys are gone.

head to Shop n Save or Family Dollar in the Hill and you'd be surprised that isnt true.

[Buckeye Burgher]

Originally Posted by thesnowman

Jitneys are illegal cab services, and you shouldn't patronize them. Anyone who says that patronizing Jitney cabs in Pittsburgh is a good idea is openly advocating committing a crime.

The bottom line is....for a whole lot of lower-income people who do not own a car, jitneys are their lifeline to groceries, doctors, and other important goods and services. Most of our local economy is still car-centric (i.e. Giant Eagle typically isn't on the bus line) and without such a service, many people would be stranded. So the authorities have been looking the other way at jitneys for many years.

Granted, the thought of getting into a strange vehicle with a driver you don't know is fraught
with peril.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Burgher

The bottom line is....for a whole lot of lower-income people who do not own a car, jitneys are their lifeline to groceries, doctors, and other important goods and services. Most of our local economy is still car-centric (i.e. Giant Eagle typically isn't on the bus line) and without such a service, many people would be stranded. So the authorities have been looking the other way at jitneys for many years.

Granted, the thought of getting into a strange vehicle with a driver you don't know is fraught
with peril.

Actually, a lot of Giant Eagles are on the bus line- I'd say most of them- Shady, East Lib, Aspinwall, South Side, Squirrel all are. But who wants to struggle on a bus with a large grocery order?

And to regular jitney riders, I'm sure that the drivers know many of their regular patrons. When I lived on North Side 20 years ago, I didn't use jitneys much, but I used the same guy when I did.

[wpipkins2]

The jitneys at the East Hills Giant Eagle have to register and provide proof of auto insurance before picking up customers.

[ryanm3685]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

The jitneys at the East Hills Giant Eagle have to register and provide proof of auto insurance before picking up customers.

Where in the Giant Eagle do I register - the manager's office? I'm considering doing this.

[SuburbanPioneer]

I love this piece from the article:

His only criticism is that passengers are not insured. To solve this problem, Father Charles O. Rice, pastor of Holy Rosary Church in Homewood, suggests the State supply jitneys with free insurance.

Expecting the State to provide "free" services appears to run for generations.

[Buckeye Burgher]

When was that article published? Monsignor Rice died in 2005. I think he had not been at Holy Rosary for many years before that.

[SuburbanPioneer]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Burgher

When was that article published? Monsignor Rice died in 2005. I think he had not been at Holy Rosary for many years before that.

Apparently, around the time when Warhol was shot at by some radical feminist.

[brother_rebus]

Resurrecting this old bag of dust-

Anyone know of a map of kniwn jitney stops/stations around the city?
Specifically looking for one in Oakland near McGee's.
Graphical representation is preferred.
Thnx

[Blackbeauty212]

The Uber / Lyft phenomenon is putting a real hurting on the Jitneys. I personally know a few Jitney Drivers that have given up and switched to Uber and Lyft. I think really the only guys that are still Jitney'ing now are those that have a strong private clientele or are driving around in "hoopties" (junk cars) that wont qualify for Uber or Lyft's standards.

I honestly, and I hate to say this because Jitneys provided a service that Cabs just wouldn't to many a people, even from my immediate family, they may go extinct faster than Yellow Cab will. There's only a 3rd of actual Jitney Stations left in the city. Those started dying when Cell Phones became mainstream, as Jitney drivers no longer needed an inbound phone line. The Hill alone used to have a dozen or so stations, now I think there's just 3 if that.