In 1980, when a transit strike halted buses and subway trains throughout New York’s five boroughs, residents in some of the most marooned parts of the city started using their own cars and vans to pick people up, charging a dollar to shuttle them to their destinations. Eleven days later, the strike ended, but the cars and vans drove on, finding huge demand in neighborhoods that weren’t well served by public transit even when buses and trains were running. The drivers eventually expanded their businesses, using thirteen-seat vans to create routes in places like Flatbush, Jamaica, Far Rockaway, and downtown Brooklyn.
Today, dollar vans and other unofficial shuttles make up a thriving shadow transportation system that operates where subways and buses don’t —mostly in peripheral, low-income neighborhoods that contain large immigrant communities and lack robust public transit. This interactive project, with a map and videos, is an exploration of that system.
