The Penn's Grove record., 1920-11-19
Jitney, With Every Chance to Prove
It's Claims Fail When Put
To Actual Test
By Henry Hurguy
Continued from last week)
Service Begins To Falter

Service Begins To Falter
But the next day service was not
quite so good and Bridgeport was a
little less satisfied. The out-of-town
jitneurs had been attracted by the lure
of high fares and the easy pickings
which had been their experience in
other cities. When they found the
jitney organizations insisted that they
content themselves with a scent fare,
stick to the routes assigned them and
run on schedule at other than rush
hours, and furthermore had inspectors
to see that they did all these things,
many voiced their hearty disapproval
and disgust at such proceedings, and
quit on the spot for fairer fields.
Many of the jitney men also were
late in reporting the second morning.
They had worked from fourteen to
eighteen hours the day before in hand
ling the crowds, and as most of them
owned their own buses they could ex-
ercise the privilege that went with
being their W bosses. Too tired to
start out bright and early that morn
ing, they simply took a rest.
AS the days followed an increasing
number of the volunteer jitney fleet
deserted, and in spite of frantic efforts
of the jitney leaders they found it i'm
possible to enlist a sufficient number
of recruits to keep their ranks from
dwindling to an alarming degree.
Appeals For Staggered Hours
Wednesday evening saw the jitney
men at the breaking point in their
efforts to handle the rush-hour traffic.
Schwartz appealed to the business men
to cooperate by staggering the open
ing and closing hours of business
houses and factories.
To add to the troubles which now
beset the jitney men, the State au-
thorities announced their intention of
strictly enforcing the laws against
over-crowding and proceeded to make
arrests and hail offenders into court.
This was a serious blow and drew a
loud wall of denunciation from the
jitney organizations.
Nor did the people of Bridgeport
continue to maintain the patience
which marked the first day of the troll
city. Sentiment slowly but
surely began to change. Many began
to compare the vanished trolley with
the present jitney, and the jitney suf-
fered by the comparison. The jitneys
were dirty beyond all belief. Of all
the jitneys in the world, it looked as
if Bridgeport had managed to ecure
the dirtiest.
Type of Jitney Drivers
Passenger began to grow a little
more critical and sea a little closer
the type of drivers they we're forced
to ride with. The majority of these
men, especially those rushed from
other cities during the emergency, had
little resemblance to the neat, courte-
Gus and efficient employees of the troll
ley company. When a jitney driver
his days tour of duty, in
most cases he pulled up to the curb,
and turned in for the night in his own
bus, standing in the public streets. In
appearance many of the men were on
a par with the interior of their own
buses. No attempt was made to
house jitneys in garages when not in
operation. They simply were parked
and everywhere in the
streets.
From this it is easy to understand
why the women of Bridgeport soon be-
to object to p%atronizing the jit-
ney. Others found fault because of
o~vercrowding, lack of illumination at
night, failure of schedules which
sometimes forced them to wait long
periods, and the growing spirit of in
dependence and d~iscourtesy developing
among the jitneurs when disappointed
in their hope of reaping large profits.
The jitneys made a pretense of
maintaining regular service on the less
frequently travelled routes and of run
ming cars at night to care for those
returning from the theatres and other
amusements, but it o o became only
a ~pretense. By the end of the first
week it was not unusual for intending
passenger to be compelled to wait
from thirty to forty OIL even seventy
minutes for a bus.
Jitneys Not Profitable
The jitney was failing. In spite Of
every effort of the jitneey leaders the
number of buses was steadily dwind
ling. Soon there were less than 35t
operating and this number was no
sufficient to handle the traffic during
the rush hours. During the slacl
periods of the day, the service became
intolerable. The public began to suf
fer and at the same time was begin
ming, probably against its will, t.
think that perhaps the trolley nigh
be the better of the two.
One of the most surprising phase
of the situation was the fact that few
if any, of the jitney owners were max
ing money at the 5-cent rate of fare
None would admit this fact. Non
kept accurate account of their ex
penses. None looked far enough int
the future to realize eventually a ney
jitney must be bought. They collect
ed $25 or $50 a day in nickels an
really believed they were engaged i
a profitable business.
1t has not been possible after care
full investigation, to find a jitne