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New York's Most Confusing Transit Mode (feat. Alex Davis)
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2023
- So-called Dollar Vans form networks of unscheduled, decentralized transit services across New York and northern New Jersey. What's it like to ride them? If you're not a local...it's a bit chaotic. From Chinatown to the Palisades, join @alexwithclipboard and I as we tackle New York's most confusing mode of transit.
Sources:
projects.newyorker.com/story/...
www.jerseyjitneys.info (the most legit of legit-sounding web sites)
Discord: / discord
Help make my next trips happen on Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/classywhale
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Classy Whale - at-least-weekly misadventures with trains and transit!
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@@ClassyWhale may I make a request of something that you could do? Maybe you might not be open for requests, but have you ever considered making a video behind how the Strasbourg railroad first originated and it’s early history? The two main things I think should be mentioned is it’s history before preservation in the late 1950s and the early days of the preservation era from about 1958 when it’s first operations as a tourist railroad started until about the 1970s and 80s when I think that was about the time that Strasbourg decided upon modeling itself after how transportation was circa 1900.
I wish more transit/ urbanism channels talked about informal transit! Props to you for doing it!
Oh you just wait until Classy Whale Versus Ethiopia
Mostly because somewhere as big as NYC should have nil such informal transit.
@@seprisherestill better than not having it. Transportation is transportation as all urbanist channels say, the main thing is always about getting from one place to another
@@Someone45356 So why doesn’t it seem needed in, say, London or Paris?
@@seprishere thats literally my point, the US’s public transportation system is mediocre to horrendously bad/nonexistence even in the areas where its most present. Having informal public transport is a blessing on these standards, and I am telling you this from the desert of a suburb that I reside in.
One thing you should have tried is the Orthodox Jewish community busses that run between Borough Park and Williamsburg (The two big Jewish communities in Brooklyn). They aren’t technically dollar vans since they’re registered with the city and have signage, but they’re buses have an all Hebrew livery and the experience is still cool nonetheless.
There's similar Orthodox busses in Rockland county
Definitely a small world to see you at Journal Square to take something I was so used to taking. Yup, not only do they have the advantage of frequency over NJT routes but the drivers speak Spanish to appeal to the majority Latino population of Hudson County. The fare is more on them than it was to take the NJT 84 or 87 from where I lived to JSQ, but they showed up more. Especially the ones to Newport over the NJT 86. Take a guess how often they run the 86…EVERY HOUR! What a great idea, an hourly run to the county’s major mall…smh. And not all of those even turned into the JSQ Transportation Center! Most of the time they just drop you off at that corner at 7:14. But hey, as confusing as they are, at least you get to sometimes hear merengue music blasting.
Hello Avery!
Yup, Journal Square was named after the Jersey Journal! They moved to that corner of what's now Journal Square in 1911, but the original building was demolished as it was condemned by the city, and they were in that one starting in 1923. However the Jersey Journal is actually no longer at Journal Square! They moved their headquarters to Secaucus in 2014, but still maintains an office in Jersey City at 30 Montgomery Street. It was decided to keep the historic Jersey Journal sign up as a reminder of why the square is named such.
The transportation center there is a Brutalist design that was part of a redesign of the station between 1968 and 1975. You may have noticed there is a Jackie Robinson statue in front of the transportation center, and this marks the fact Jackie Robinson made his professional baseball debut in Jersey City on April 18, 1946, playing for the Montreal Royals against the Jersey City Giants at Roosevelt Stadium on the city's West Side. The site is now a gated community called Society Hill, but there is a baseball field constructed next to it where New Jersey City University's team plays.
In Indonesia, this kind of transport already exist long time ago. We call this "angkot", a short from "angkutan kota" or city transport. They usually use a van that's being converted to carry more passengers by modifying the seat into "side-row" style like inside a metro. The fare is really cheap, usually less than or around $0.3, and usually there's a student discount to if you wear your school uniform. In bigger cities like Jakarta, it's directly integrated with Jakarta bus rapid transit system, TransJakarta. Even you can pay with your e-money card/transit card too, but in smaller cities they use cash only. The route is usually fixed, at least in Jakarta, and no schedule too. Tho in smaller cities, they're not integrated with a bigger public transport system since it's nonexistent (in fact, angkot is the only "public transit" in smaller cities).
Sadly, few bad habits of angkot driver, quite famously in Bandung city, is waiting really long time in side street to fill the passengers (we call this "ngetem"), their arrogant attitude towards bus rapid transit drivers and online taxi driver, and generally unsafe driving (speeding, passing by illegally, crossing railway despite the gate already closed, and crossing red light) that cause many accidents and casualties. Tho the government are trying hard to fix that.
It's so nice that there's same system in US, and a nice video covering that topic!
The Soviet Union has what are known locally as marshrutki (Russian: маршрутки). The term "jitney" is often used in The Bahamas, with the Amsterdam-based London, Ontario, Canada-born Not Just Bikes CZcams man having claimed, in his late-March video "This Tiny Island has Insane Traffic," of horrible traffic on New Providence, the island on which the capital Nassau is located.
They also pull a nimby when city governments introduce new buses which ply on the same route as them
IMO the use of minivan can be useful for feeder transport for bigger transit system in the city. It small body can goes through dense suburban in city like Jakarta or Bandung where it's impossible to get full sized bus in. Also, most of cities in Indonesia built as urban sprawl which is large but low populated. With minivan, we can built suburban transport network with high frequency and large network. Of course the van should be air conditioned and have regulated operation with professional driver so people will feel comfort and safety to take it.
The name Union City references the merger of the municipalities of Union Hill and West Hoboken Township in 1925. The area is nicknamed Havana on the Hudson because of all the Cubans that call Union City (as well as West New York and Guttenberg) home. Unlike Miami Cubans who mostly came to escape Fidel, a lot of Cubans came to the NY metro area before the revolution to look for job opportunities like North Jersey's historic embroidery industry. This working-class community of Cubans is why Cubans in the NY metro are politically left-leaning compared to our Miami counterparts. My family came for both jobs and because they didn't like military honcho Fulgencio Batista.
Heck, NYC was once home to Cuban national hero and poet José Martí who fought for Cuban independence. He and his fellow revolutionaries (and these Cuban revolutionaries lived alongside Puerto Rican ones) lived in NYC in exile before returning to Cuba after being inspired to fight, where he died in battle. The Cuban flag was actually designed in NYC! And to honor NYC's role, the Cuban government gifted NYC with a statue of José Martí on horseback in Central Park!
This is just speculation, but if I had to guess I would say at least part of the dollar van success is due to language. If you're in Bensonhurst, need to get to Flushing, and only speak/read Chinese, I could see something like the van being really essential to getting you there, simply because navigating the MTA might be too difficult as a non-English speaker. Just a thought.
Yup, or if you want to absolutely minimize risk of contact with 'the authorities'.
To go to flushing you got to go to nyc and take the 7 a total nightmare and the walk is pretty far from the D to the 7 train.
Now the Caleb-Alex duo band can compete with the Miles-Jackson duo band
Caleb Classy Whale one of your best and most interesting vlogs ever; and the mysterious reappearance of the elusive Alex Davis (please tell him to make some more videos) makes this even better. I take the Jitney on Rt 4 to the GW Bridge Bus Terminal often.
Really interesting video, this is something I had never heard of before
Whenever me and my family went to new york in the past, we always took the dollar van, except it was called the jitney, at least where we lived. Not exactly the best mode of transit but it will do for now I guess.
I'd never heard of this whole other branch of transit! cool video!!
Bro ur content is mad dope , very cool I once saw em at port authority and I never understood how it works or how people know about it lol VERY cool and informative keep it up 💯
Sort of a hybrid between a bus and taxi.Very similar to what are known as Shared Taxis in the Middle East and north Africa.These Shared Taxis generally run to fixed routes but no timetable as such except for the fact that they'll start at a certain time in the morning and finish at a certain time at night.
I rode one in Morocco! They're called "Gran Taxi" there if I remember correctly
I heard these were also called Jitneys, which reminds me of Jeepney
Good report. I am surprised the Bronx routes (like Edenwald) were not on the map (which was on screen too short a time). These things undermine the strength and effectiveness of regular public transit. Fortunately most of them now are confined to areas and routes I don't need. Some even make sense (Chinese/Jewish). But the outer Brooklyn and Queens ones reveal a serious failure and resignation of the MTA to provide adequate service on lines feeding the subway and shopping areas.
Thanks for another interesting transit alternative. The only place I road jitneys is in Atlantic City where they have operated in competition with the busses for years. Of course now they are used mainly by people going from one casino to another but are also used by locals to get around.
There are people that find mta busses confusing like this and blindly just take the train when a bus would be better. Take advantage of the services out there. Do not be confused. Find a way.
If you were in Manhattan there would be no hesitation to jaywalk. When driving through an intersection you honk your horn to alert jaywalkers.
I live along Route 4, and my local NJT bus line (the 171) only runs every 40 mins! however, there is a jitney service called the Route 4 jitney that runs as much as every 3 minutes during peak hours and charges a flat 6$ fare to get to the GWB bus terminal in Manhattan (more than NJT but that's just the price of convenience). Furthermore, there is plenty of info about these online and they are a state-certified service (Google Maps even says to take it). Just shows how helpful these services are and how much we rely on them.
This was a fun watch
I used to take these in 2016-2018 when I lived in the Bronx and worked in Newark; my colleagues and I used to go drinking after work in Jersey City; since I had an NJT monthly I just took the dollar vans to Union City/31 St and used my monthly to get across the river
If u ever come to Germany try the rufbus system, basically a "normal" bus line with a schedule that only operates if u call the transit agency some hours prior so they know that someone needs that bus...
So...an awkward taxi?
@@ClassyWhalekinda, but for the normal bus fare and with a fixed route and fixed timetable and operated by the local transit agency
@@ClassyWhale We call them Telebuses in Denmark. They're a dying breed but are still around in some areas. Officials and politicians in many areas want to replace them, and many infrequent bus lines in rural areas running like 3-5 times a day, with carpooling subsidised by the transit agencies, and informal community dollarvans run by volunteers in their community with a van owned by the transit agency. And for context, these vans are always only 9 seaters, like those for a carpenter because anything larger requires a truck license, meaning fewer people could operate it.
@@cady7944 Yeah. Here in Denmark too we have them. We call them Telebuses. A ton of politicians here complain about buses being largely empty (which well... is what you get when you cut down departures from like 11 per day to 4 on these routes), and that they're "wasting money" running around "empty buses". So they're downgrading some rural routes to Telebuses, or replacing telebuses or rural infrequent buses entirely. Currently they're dabbling with some ideas, including informal community run dollar vans run by volunteers to replace actual buses...
We have the same in Denmark called "flextrafik" most often used to extend existing transit journeys to remote parts of the country
The D and N trains take you from Chinatown to Sunset Park in 35-40 minutes
My ride was closer to 20 if I remember correctly
@@collectivelyimprovingtrans2460 If you have, for example, a job or jobs at which you work 14-16 hours a day, saving 15-20 minutes twice a day might be a huge benefit. Or if you need to get home for to take care of children or an elderly or infirm relative, 15 minutes might make all the difference.
The Dollar Vans should be integrated into the formal transit systems. One of the main reasons that they are not is because the unions will not agree to a lower hourly rate to drive small buses. Plus, they have so-called Cadillac health plans which are extremely expensive and billed to the transit agency instead of a health agency like in every other "civilized" country.
you should have gone on flatbush! those are the real deal dollar vans
Get a motorcycle. The japanese 300cc ones are hella economical at 3l/100km or so, while still being fast off the line and fun in the twisties if you leave the city. It's fun.
Getting my motorcycle license is unironically the best thing i've ever done in my life.
You still need to try the Queens routes
im from jersey-- the most interesting thing about the PATH imo is that they used to have a TV with NBC playing as you're going under the uptown Hudson and also in the NJ stations--. they're disabled now, however
I saw some of these last weekend in NYC but didn't utilize any. Atlantic City Jitneys saved the day after that part of our trip. I'm on the Silver Meteor southbound to JAX, running late enough to get breakfast free and the conductor let us stay in a no-show sleeper rather than transfer to coach for our points ticket part of the journey.
I road one in the opposite direction, from Manhattan Chinatown to Flushing. My friend's friend ended up sitting on a stool in the walkway, I think. It was a nice taste of the Hong Kong light bus in North America
San Francico had jitneys running along Mission Street until the late 1970's. The city stopped licensing them because they competed with SF Muni.
I use to ride them from Fort Lee, NJ across the GW Bridge to New York for work. Great little transit service. They were cheaper and ran more frequently than NJ Transit.
I wouldn't expect _marshrutky_ in New York :P
I remember taking one of these with my dad when visiting New York. Down Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn. We were very confused. We didn't even pay
Miami had unofficial dollars vans 30years ago, mostly going the same route as the regular city busses and same route number on the van, so they got shut down after a few years.
When you said dollar van I thought you were going to the true dollar vans, like the ones in Jamaica outside the Parsons-Archer subway station or the ones in Brooklyn going down either Flatbush or Utica Avenues. Those are true dollar vans, not the jitneys you rode
What's the technical difference?
@Classy Whale the ones you rode was done with the city's blessing while the ones I mentioned, while they filled a need as the transit system back in the day was a total mess, was totally illegal till about 15 years ago. When the city finally made it legal for them to operate as long as they were licensed, they city suddenly allowed a free bus to subway transfer, which killed alot of their business since the operated in two fare zones. People still use it but not nearly as many as they did in the past
Coney Island has dollar cabs. They're really at least 2 bucks. They operate from the Stillwell Ave station to Seagate primarily on Mermaid Ave which is just 2 lanes so it's a fucking nightmare. They honk at everyone that stands by the crosswalk hoping they're looking for a ride.
this was the main mode of transport for me and my family growing up in Hudson County. Was always PACKED with people and at least on the routes I usually took, competed with NJT. You could yell STOP wherever you needed to be dropped off, which was great if you were going somewhere were the bus stops were few and far between. We never cared about safety though....
🎶Caleb didn’t become a local!🎶
In Turkey this is a Typical Mode of Public Transit outside of the Big City’s. They are called Dolmus. They have the Route and Destination Written on the side of the bus and in city’s they only pic up passengers at designated stops. Outside of city’s you can Bord a Dolmus anywhere. When I took a Dolmus in Northern Cyprus there was someone who wanted to ride on our Dolmus so the person ran across a 4 Lane highway. It was definitely an inter experience. They are cheap and fun to use
Great way to end this video and the dot condo was scary!
At least the people who weren't on the dot floor had a good view of...traffic?
This whole video needs a "Caleb didn't do his research" lo-fi remix running in the background throughout.
Caleb DID his research and it was still confusing!
This was certainly a fascinating insight into the somewhat below the radar, dollar buses. Bearing in mind the traffic, it might be quicker to walk in some cases! Thank you for the rather hard work you put into this.
one time i raced bergenline traffic from 30th to 50th and won lol
this transportation system also exists in my country!
More confusing than njtransit buses. Does anyone see an incredible irony in that?
Anyway great video guys!
Born and raised in NYC, never heard of these dollar vans at all. As he was talking through the introduction I realized that these are 100% illegally operated and are not authorized to operate as taxis by the city of NY. The chinese have been using these operations for decades. There is a whole underground black market being run that has gone VERY far underground since the 1980s.
Some of them are licensed! Not sure about the ones we rode
Facial hair is looking good Caleb
Wait you didn't do the Dollar Van from Port Authority to Paterson via Union City and Passaic and Clifton? Man that is a must because you can see some nice waterfalls and a very historic park in Paterson. Plus the towns you go through are interesting for the broad socioeconomic spectrum you see.
you passed through my neighborhood at 1:21!
I’ve taken a lot of the dollar vans in Jersey since the 2000’s but we usually call them the Jitneys. It’s predominantly run by Hispanics so some Spanish is needed but most will understand. Most of them tend to run alongside NJ Transit routes (but a lot charge more than NJT)
Community Lines Jitneys - 125/10 routes
Express Service - 190X route & whatever goes from GWB to Westfield Garden State Plaza
Sphinx- 156 Route
Bergenline - 156+ 84P/86 towards Newport Mall.
It’s great when ur in a rush but sometimes the vans/buses are Ill maintained
COOL VIDEO
You should look into the NYC Subway's Rush Hour Scheduled trains like the (5) from New Lots at 5:45 AM or the (Q) via the (N) to 96th Street
13:11 I'm crying that's hilarious lol
You should have done the ones in Flatbush, Brooklyn. One route goes from Downtown Brooklyn to Kings Plaza
I featured them very briefly in my next video!
Funnily enough, there are no "pound vans" at Friars Walk in Newport.
I am surprised the wealthiest urban economy in the world relies on such informal transport.
You should do a vid about Chinatown buses (lucky star, etc…)
The only jitney I’ve taken is between Paterson and the George Washington bridge on route 4
I want the travel mode where you snap you fingers and are suddenly in Jersey.
Are we not calling these jitneys any more?
Cool idea for a video!
what's crazy is the only reason I even knew about these buses is because I was looking into moving to NJ years ago and I was looking at transit routes to work, and every google map result told me to take the jitney. And I couldn't find very good info on them at all, just the fact that they existed and that you could use them. But if google maps was giving me those instructions, that means they have to be at least somewhat regular and well known enough to even be listed.
I haven't been on a dollar van in probably 15 years i see they upgraded to those bigger vans from passenger ford E 250s
So, how do these operations actually bring in enough money to keep running? Do they get support from the city, or are they exclusively funded through the fare box?
Are these dollar vans licensed or under some jurisdiction? I know they're private companies/operators but I wonder if they need a license to operate. Very interesting micro transit!
They do. Not all have them 😛
If you enjoy blasting merengue music, then let’s just say you’ll definitely enjoy them 😂 - former JC resident
@karatransitfur As the Resident “Miles in Transit/Classy Whale” Chicagoland CZcams Media Correspondent, can you please see what’s the deal with those “Free Enterprise” Buses that seem everywhere around Chicago college and university neighborhoods? Are they some sort of co-op serving UC Hyde Park, UIC main campus college row along Boul Mich, Lincoln Park (DePaul) Loyola and Evanston? Are they only open to students, or what?
And whatever path is 😂😂
In fact many Chinese people in NYC don’t know the existence of Chinatowns dollar van, even if they visit shops and restaurants there frequently.
What time of day were you traveling that there was no traffic on the BQE or LIE?
One of the new jersey routes shows up on Google maps
What is the situation with driver's passenger liability insurance, is it non-existant, voluntary or compulsory?
did you not notice the big sign that lists all the places where the bus goes and the corresponding prices? its usually right behind the driver.
talking about the bergenline routes, not sure about the chinatown route you took.
In Eastern European countries they have a similar concept called маршрутка/marshrutka with similar characteristics, I think some Latin American countries also have similar transit services.
Yes in latin America they're called combes
@@berniekatzroyits written combi, and yes theres even more types like colectivos, custers, and micros (short for microbus). But this is peru, in ecuador theres nothing like this meanwhile in mexico they have something called a pesero. Its varyingly different in other places too as well
Then you have the dollar Lincoln tunnel bus, picks up at 42nd in front of port authority and drops off throughout Weehawken and Union City 🗽 is really true of a kind with those damn vans 😂
Try the red minibuses if you visit Hong Kong again.
These are pretty common in some other regions of the world and are known as share taxis. It’s definitely interesting to see them in New York!
You forgot said “Caleb didn’t do his research” 12:04
Have you ever been on a city bus and thought, you know, this is really too premium? I don't really need something this upscale?
The ad on the seat: Florida has the easiest driver’s test in this country, but New York’s is the hardest, call for details of taking one in Florida. Don’t believe that reflects reality
holy shit, I had no idea Matatus existed in the US. Love this!
you know, you can also get a "Dollar Bus" all the way to Boston...
you mean Megabus? They stopped running that.
@@ClassyWhale No
I mean an actual mini-bus van style service linking the Chinatowns of NY & Boston.
it's cash only, first come first serve basis I believe...
to be honest, do not know whether it's still there as I have not used it for ages... but
@@stanislavkostarnov2157 okay now I have to try this
How about a video on the B-110 bus in NYC. (It is private run bus for connecting Orthodox Jewish communities)
YES
@@GeoTransit Brookline, MA? That is where I grew up.
@@theconezy yes! Brookline, MA!
@@theconezy nice! What school did u go to?
@@GeoTransit Baker
Could you have made it on dollar buses all the way to Rutgers?
I can see it, now, "Dollar Vans to Grease Trucks; Jersey on a Budget."
oddly innovative for a transit video
We may need to change the channel name to Scruffy Whale.
What was the fare? $1?
A New York marshrutka basically
Ahhhh...so New York has invented...boring jeepneys?
Taiwan flag at 4:32 and america flag also at 4:32
Now try públicos in Puerto Rico 😬
Exactly. Getting from San Juan to Loiza was oof
Union City? Sure it's halfway between Metropolis and Gotham City. Central City? I think it's near Chicago.
Dollar Vans are popular in the Caribbean too. They’re known as Maxi Taxi’s in Trinidad & Tobago.
Same here, albeit as Jeeps
Are these fully legal?
No
So you mean that I’ve ridden an illegal bus?!
JOLIBEE
in indonesia we call it angkot
Tell Alex to stop thinking with a transit mind LoL and think with a convenience mind.
Remember, they can't block regular buses so they have to go somewhere where they can bunch up without blocking regular buses.
Those are just combes, they're very common in latin America.
As a former New Yorker, I can confirm that I didn’t even know this existed
Those things are an absolute cancer on public transit, and many ex-Soviet bloc countries are plagued by them. The city I currently live in in Poland doesn't have these per se, but has a private system on an app-based model that aggregate pick up and drop off locations and use an algorithm to plan routes on the fly. I think they use 10-passenger vehicles.
I at near dinky
MATATU!
It sounds like something third world or countryside.