Return of the jitney. It was nice when a new train service made it possible for an estimated 22,000 residents of New York City s suburban Maplewood to reach Manhattan in just 25 minutes. But the station didn t offer much parking, so commuters left their cars along neighborhood streets. There were so many complaints, recalls Roger Brauchli, Maplewood s director of recreation, that the town contemplated spending millions to build a parking garage. Instead, Brauchli s department started a jitney service three years ago.
Small buses pick commuters up at specified street corners, much like a school bus rounds up pupils.
Like any government service, it s mainly supported by taxes, said Brauchli, but it costs nowhere near as much as a garage. A sideways elevator. What may be the world s shortest commuter line can be found just outside Boston. It runs all of 770 feet about two city blocks and in just 55 seconds it carries riders between an office complex garage and a subway-surface line. Seems the transit system s platform and garage are on opposite sides of railroad tracks and highways too dangerous to cross on foot.