Shared Taxis

A shared taxi, also called a jitney, is vehicular transportation provided to multiple passengers, often on an informal and possibly on-demand basis. There are two major types of shared taxi systems: the jitney system, in which an unofficial vehicle (often a small van) provides service along a more-or-less regular route and for a standard fee, and a second type more analogous to a traditional taxi system and in which a group of people agree to share a vehicle (often a traditional taxicab) for a particular trip; in this type of shared taxi, different passengers may well have different starting and ending points.

Both methods of taxi sharing offer transportation that is more efficient than each passenger driving his or her own car, and more flexible than is typically provided by official, scheduled mass transportation, although they offer challenges in terms of safety. Both systems are in use all over the world today and are particularly useful in areas where the supply of transportation from official services does not meet the demands of passengers.