August Wilson’s JITNEY
A jitney is defined by Webster’s as “a small bus that carries passengers over a regular route on a flexible schedule.” The name originated in 1914 in Los Angeles when a man named L.P. Draper accepted a fare from a stranger in exchange for a brief ride in Draper’s Model T Ford. The fare was a “jitney” – slang for a nickel – and it became the standard fare for such rides for many years. By autumn 1915, a thriving jitney “industry” provided inexpensive and reliable transportation in cities all across the country.
In recent years, jitneys have come under fire in cities where taxicabs are heavily regulated. City governments in places like Detroit and New York have attempted to “crack down” on these unlicensed cars-for-hire. It is unlikely, however, that the jitney business will ever disappear completely, especially from large urban areas where jitneys are often the primary mode of transit for low-income workers who cannot afford the higher fare of licensed taxis.
Ironically, the large, luxurious bus service that transports wealthy New Yorkers to their vacation homes in the Hamptons on the weekends is called the Hamptons Jitney.
(Special thanks to the Alley Theatre for the use of this article.)
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