The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-08-31
Is There Any Law For Jitneys?

that KenOsha IN turning down the street
railway company and embracing the
jitney buss have leaped from the frying
pan into the blazing fire. We would
just like to ask one question and that
is, Is there any idea of jitney regula-
tion on the part of the police Of the
city or the members Of the Common
Council?' Jitneys are supposed to OPP
crate under certain rules laid down by
the Railroad Commission. They are
given permits to operate under these
rules and under no other. It is posi-
BILE that jitneys live up to these rules
in some cities, They do not live up to
them in Kenosha. The iitney buss is
just as much Of a false alarm as the
street railway cars in Kenosha If it
were possible we would suggest that it
was more so. The jitneys in Kenosha
seem to recognize no law or regulation
and by the Common Council there seems
to be paternalistie protection over
them which limits any effort to force
the jitney men to come anywhere near
obeying laws or regulations. Some
thing like year ago move was start
ed to have the jitneys regulated. The
council referred it from committee to
committee ana the only thing that has
come Of it all was the exposition of the
! fact that lot of the members of the
council were hostile to the railway com
pany and friendly to the jitney. These
1
same fellows admit that it is hard to
see where jitney pays nothing for the
use of the streets and yet they plead
that it would be a hardship to license
them. Los Angeles seems to welcome
this sort Of a hardship. Out there
| every mother s son who drives a jitney
buss pays Los Angeles license of $40
every month. Los Angeles not only
gets back some of the money she lost
by the reduction Of the business Of her
street railway plant, but what is more,
! she gets chance to regulate and con-
troll jitney operation. Out there the
men who drive jitneys are sober law
abiding men. They do not sit putting
| cigarette and blowing the smoke from
/ it into the faces of women passengers.
You could walk all day on the streets
Of Los Angeles without seeing a Ford
car carrying more than six people In
Kenosha you can see one of the little
/ fiivver jitIeys Juggling away under
load of nine or ten people pretty nearly
every hour in the day. Of course the
city has regulated jitneys by having
/ signs placed on the cars. Some of the
| jitney drivers do not believe in signs
and for this reason the intended regu-
lation does not apply to them. They
are expected to cover certain routes
! the whole of them-but possibly one in
the whole number working in Kenosha
under state permits do this. The signs
are changed whenever there is chance
to get load going in another direction
and if a single passenger interferes
with the iitney man taking the load, he
is dumped out with little ceremony. A
| lot of the jitney drivers in Kenosha are
everything that jitney buss driver
| should not be. A few Of them are gen
tlemen, but even as gentlemen they see
no reason why they should observe
rules and regulations if they can make
more money forgetting all about them.
The real question at issue is the pull
of the jitney with the council. The
aldermen may have excellent reasons
for declining to report on proposed
plans for the regulation of jitneys but
| if this is the fact the excellent reasons
have not been given to the puolic. Bet
tering the street railway company may
bring personal satisfaction to an alder
man, but battering the jitneys might
bring little service on the part of the
common carriers to the people of the
whole city. It may be that there is no
corporation controlling the jitney bust
ness in Kenosha. Individuals may be
regulated just the same as corporations
and some individuals need a lot more
regulation than some corporations. AS
matter of square deal, the city coun-
ell should at once act on plan for the
regulation of jitneys. IF these men are
to continue to act as common carriers.
let it be understood that they will act
within the provisions of the law and in
keeping with the permits granted to
them by the Railroad Commission.
Regulations would prevent intoxi-
Gated men acting as jitney drivers it
would at least prevent lot of fellows
who are running automobiles for
hire from gauging their hands into
the pockets of the people for unfair
fares. Of course if you want to look
at it in that way, regulation of the
jitneys might make it possible to have
better service in the jitneys and ulti-
mately work to better service on a
street railway.
We question if Kenosha is ready to
trade an established railway service for
an unestablished jitney service. Even
if it is, there must be regulation of the
jitney. Possibly if the lives of people
were made safe and the jitney paid its
just part for the support of the streets
it uses there would not be so many
I7E~ T.