Nice Coincidence
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
It’s only a matter of coincidence that the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, is considering whether to take on the question of the commuter vans just as the bus drivers in Queens are out on strike. But it’s a sweet coincidence nonetheless, because never have the virtues of the vans been in sharper relief.
The question before the court is going to be whether the commuter vans can pick up and drop off riders on blocks served by city-run or city-contracted buses. The strike is by employees of three city-contracted and subsidized private bus lines that operate in Queens. The strikers, who serve about 100,000 commuters, are demanding health care and pensions. They are encouraging Mayor Bloomberg to enter the fray, since they provide a service, mass transportation, that most of us have come to expect the government to provide.
But riding to the rescue of beleaguered Queens commuters are the owners and operators of the commuter vans, non-union operators who have been the bête noir of the unionized bus drivers for years. These vans first emerged in the 1980 strike by public employees that shut down the city’s bus and subway service for 11 days. Following the strike, the vans continued to operate.
As the ridership of the commuter vans grew, the City Council — under pressure from transit unions — determined to regulate the burgeoning industry in the name, if not the interest, of the public good. In addition to the prohibition on operating on blocks served by buses, they are required to prearrange pick-ups and drop-offs, and to have a passenger manifest to prove that rides were prearranged. In short, they are not permitted to operate as the market would allow, and are in court to regain that right.
The van companies are heirs to the great battle for rail supremacy that ended in 1940, and left us with the world’s greatest underground. The vans have filled a need the city had left unfilled and done so well enough that it has diminished the impact of the bus employees’ strike and demonstrated the needlessness of city control of our mass transportation. Where a need exists, a service will surface, if the government allows it. Entrepreneurs have greater flexibility, and are impelled by competition in a way that the city is not. Something for the court to remember.
