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This was brought up once in regards to the Woodward Light-Rail. There was some law/act that stated that there could be no private means [[taxi, shuttle, and etc) mode of transportation running along the same route as bus lines. I know I probably have it wrong, that's why I want to better understand it.
Thanks again.
-Tahleel
Sorry I don't have any information Tahleel, but it sounds like a silly law if there is one.
Sounds exclusionary and not legally right, somehow. A taxi company could sue and probably win.
From what I can see, there are a few benefits for this:
1.) It can encourage people to take the bus rather than a taxi. If you're going the same way, why not public transportation? It would help a failing bus system in many cities by making the bus the only route of transportation. "
2.) It creates less congestion. Think about how congested downtown would be if Woodward were to be packed full of cabs. It helps other drivers by clearing up some of the traffic.
-Tahleel
You can search for it yourself.
http://www.municode.com/Library/clie...?clientID=1930
Look for vehicles for hire. It boils down to needing a license to operate a bus or taxi service and City council having to approve all transportation licenses and routes. I doubt they'd approve competition to THEIR bus system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ndavies
Thank you for the link! I found what I was looking for, although not what I thought it was. The term I was looking for was called a "jitney."
-Tahleel
The original anti-jitney law goes back to the city takeover of the streetcar & bus system from the old DUR. At that time there were lots of unlicensed jitneys competing with, and undercutting the fares of, the transit system. As described by my grandparents the jitney buses would create traffic clogs around busy stops at rush hours, and would compete wildly for fares, cutting off buses and stopping in front of streetcars. By the boom years of the late 1920s the situation had become intolerable and jitneys were banned. Only city buses and licensed cabs were allowed to pick up riders. The situation arose again in the '90s and the jitney law was strengthened.
When I lived in NYC there was a similar problem in the '90s along the very busy Flatbush Ave. corridor in Brooklyn with so-called "dollar vans." After several years of increasingly futile enforcement, that itself became a danger to the public, the city finally did the sensible thing and regulated and licensed the vans, with minimum rules for fares, safety,and driver licensing.
Are you sure it's a state law and not a city ordinance?
It's not a state law. It's a city ordinance. The link I posted was the city ordinances.