Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1922-02-14
UTNEY DRIVERS
PLEAD CASE IN
OPEN HEARING
Ask Ordinance Amended So
They Can Make Living
From Operations.
ONE SPEAKS FOR PUBLIC

ONE SPEARS FOR FUbLIC
While former jitney drivers argued
that the jitney regulation ordinance
should be amended so as to permit them
to operate in order that they might
make living, motormen and conductors
of the Indianapolis Street Railway Com
pany pleaded for the permanent suppress
sion of the scent bus in order that
street car men may continue to have
jobs, at the public hearing before the
public works committee of the city coun-
Gil last night. The hearing lasted three
hours and was further marked by the
appearance Of a lone citizen representing
the public. He was Russell Wilson, ex-
president of the city council and one
of the authors of the present Jitney
ordinance.
DIR. Henry Jameson, chairman OF the
board of directors of the street railway
company, was one of the speakers against
the amendment, while Fred R. BOnifield,
attorney for the Indianapolis Jitney
Drivers Association, and c. J. Orbison,
whose connection was not announced,
were chief orators in favor Of them.
PROVISIONS OF
AMENDMENT.
The amendments would do away with
the prohibition of jitneys receiving or
discharging passengers upon streets
where car tracks are located; reduce IL
cense fees from $25 and $35 to SO, SIS
and $50 a year; reduce bonds from $1,000
and $4,000 to $3.50 and s., 600; abolish
the requirement that jitney drivers file
schedules and routes and adhere strictly
thereto under pain Of loss of license; re-
duce penalty from 800 fine and $50 days
in Jail to 500 and thirty days; give
drivers refused licenses because of
physical ability right of appeal to a
committee; repeal the section prohibiting
any passenger from riding SO the body
protrudes more than six inches from the
edge Of the vehicle and include taxicabs
and buses plying between Indianapolis
and points outside the city limits in all
provisions of the ordinance.
None of the councilmen expressed an
opinion upon the amendments, but they
frequently Intercepted the jitney and
street car men after they had finished
their set speeches.
Chairman John E. King Of the COM
mittee announced that the report on the
amendments probably will be given at
a special meeting OF the council within
a few days.
PUBLIC STAYS
AT HOME.
Mr.. Wilson was the last man to speak.
"You see here another instance of how
the contending factions in a controversy
come up before the council in full force,
while the dear public sits at home,' he
said. II come here as a citizen. have
been asked to do so by at least twenty
five or thirty people. Those interested
selfshIy are here on the job, while the
public, most interested of all, sits at
home expecting you councilmen to 90
your duty They will make no comment
until you make misstep and then you'll
hear from them aplenty."
He traced the history OF the present
titney legislation through the period
last summer when the public service COM
mission in effect told the city that it
would either have to regulate jitneys or
see the street railway company either
get increased fares or go out Of bust
ness.
1--WE were two or three years behind
other cities in jitney regulation" he
said. "The reason was that all over the
country street railways had been .harg-
ing from to II cents fare while we had
been riding for cents. The jitney Prob
lem, up to that time, had not reached
the acute stage here"
REGULATION IN
OTHER CITIES.
He told of the conditions a council
committee of which he was member
found in Sioux City, Des Moines and
Kansas City, where it went to investi-
gate the jitney, asserting that IN Sioux
City and Des Moines It had been driven
out and in Kansas City put under reg
ulations, making 1t impossible for 1t to
Of with HarViPn
There Is not room in Indianapolis for
both jitneys and street cars. 1t has got
to be one or the other, and while there
arc hundreds of people in Indianapolis
who want jitneys, they want them with
street car service. None is ready to throw
himself upon the mercy of jitneys alone
''This is q matter which most vitality
concerns the public and the public alone
The greatest single disaster that could
happen to the city would be to over
throw the ordinance passed by the other
council"
SAYS REGULATION
PROHIBITORY.
Mr.. Bonifed in arguing for the jitney
drivers contended that they do not fear
nor oppose just regulation, such as he
believed the amendments would provide.
They do not favor prohibitory regula-
ton such as now keeps them from
operating, contending that they have as
much inherint right to use the public
thoroughfares as a great corporation
like the street railway company
Thousands Of citizens who cannot get
service from the street cars demand the
supplemental service of the jitneys and
have a right to get it, he said. Jitney
service does not mean the elimination
of the street car. Street cars will go
right on running. The city needs both
services, he declared. pointing out that
New York City has elevated, subway and
surface railways and thousands of jitney
buses besides.
''The street railway company has no
quarrel with the jitney drivers" said DIR.
Jameson. "There is nothing wrong with
men trying to earn an honest living. But
this company must afford service to the
people Of Indianapolis. The former city
administration, that nobody can charge
of being overly friendly to this com
pany, allowed US a valuation of $4,000
600. The company has gone on without
receiving any just return on that valua-
ton. Mr.. Bonifield and Mr.. Orblson