Omaha daily bee., 1915-05-01
ALI About the Jitneys

IN United States having transportation revo-
Il luton. Forty-six cities already involved.
Every day another municipality Joins the move
ment led by the jtney bus.
The great street and traction companies are
fighting desperately 20 maintain their claims upon
the streets OF American cities In q dozen cities the
aid OF the courts has been invoked to stop the
Of the jitney bus.
Never the history Of the United states has there
been sudden and unexpected an economic de-
velopment A few months ago. a genius IN Los An
geles put into operation automobile bus charging
scent fares
Today jltney buses are running In almost every
large city in the west and central west and lines
being started everywhere The latest reports indicate
that there between 5000 and 5000 licensed ftneys
operating In these cities
The name jtney Is interesting in itself II has
been used especially among negroes and the south
20 mean scent nickel Various explanations OF the
origin Of the name have been advanced. The most
logical one comes from Colonel William II. T. Shade
Of Lake City. Ia Mr.. Shade for many years
theatrical. circus and minstrel business and
advance agent. He believes the word from the
now applied TO telephone sugs in France Il was
used, also. 20 mean the small metal disks used
checks In gambling houses and the word in
mon usage among the French and Creoles In Louis-
Years ago minstrel troupe playef In Lake
Providence. La. and the negroes had man OF these
lotions. which passed small change. When
the cashier the minstrel checked up after
the performance he found himself with a quart
OF lotions which the negroes called Jtneys II be-
came a common expression in minstredom.
When the scent fare buses adopted the name
jitney they unconsciousiy found a trademark worth
millions in advertising. The stuck"
On December l. 1914, few Itney buses were
running IN Los Angeles. In week the streets
lined with them. San Francisco the Bay Cities. Port
land. Seattle and Spokane had seized upon the idea
and private sightseeing buses and trucks
were being transformed into buses and licensed to
carry passengers. Denver took II up. Salt Lake.
Wher afruc s1agt
In Kansas City the first bus operated by II. W. NH
ler carried passenger trip the average for
two days. Inside Of two weeks from the day he
started operating his car on the ttney basis there
were 800 cara in commission carrying %,0oO pas
sengers per day. and the number was steadily in
creasIng
In New Orleans. where the public long has com
planned against street service the idea became
popular In day. Inside OF weeks the street
company, which had refused to grant any conces-
sons, advertising seats for ALL" The jtney re
sponded with Scent fares for children and precipi
tated merry war. In salt Lake twenty pay-as-you-
enter jtney In operation and more have been
ordered making serious inroads the traction
ceipts There are more than 100 tits In operation In
San Antonio Tex. New Orleans reports In passenger
operating at profit Of s day per car; Kan
city now has zoe licensed claiming to parry
1900 passengers a day Spokane has ninety btsses
running, and the corporation formed to opeAte them
has ordered fifteen and thirty-nine- passenger
cars; Portland has $4,000 jitney corporaton Mil
waukee has installed big cars running on ten-mlnute
schedule over a mile line: Columbus Cincinnati
Toledo Dayton. Akron Hamilton Springfield. in
Ohio; Peoria. NJ; Terre Haute, Evansville, and In
dlanapolis In Indiana; jackson and Vcksburg. IN
Aflsslssippi; Oklahoma City. Tulsa and Lawton IN
Oklahoma: Atlanta Birmingham. Memphis Omaha
Des Aoines, Minneapolis St Paul. Chicago. Balti-
more Washington. among the cities that have
adopted the jitney bus idea
The jltney has suddenly that one
really knows whether win solve the tIa9 port
troubles of the cities further increase them Some
cities In their eagerness TO from the tractor
companies giving TO the Htney corporations rights
that may be Just hard TO abrogate as the street
car franchises
The two big problems congestion Of streets and
danger OF Injury. In Kansas City the traffic police
and others declare the tneys do not oongest traffic
as much as street do. and easier to handle
Los Angeles already complaining OF congestion OF
the main downtown streets and danger to Pedestrian
/ and shoppers.
II is evident that before the titneys received
as an established public service factor habilit,
insurance must be arranged The jtneys operated
| chiefly by persons of small means, ana the dange
OF personal Injury passengers Is TO be considered
| The street car companies declare the proportion o.
passengers injured win be larger than in any othe
form OF transportation and that II win be practical,
impossible for injured passengers to damages
| Already the various iitney corporations are plan
| ming a great jtney insurance company. which viii
guarantee the Of jitneys against liability TO
| accidents.