Share taxi vehicles that follow a rough service route, but can go slightly out of their way to pick up and drop off passengers. In many US cities (e.g. Pittsburgh and Detroit), the term "jitney" refers to an unlicensed taxi cab. The name comes from an archaic, colloquial term for a five-cent piece in the US (the nickel). The common fare for the service when it first came into use was five cents, so the "five-cent cab" or "jitney cab" came to be known for the price charged. In Rhode Island a jitney license plate is used for all public passenger buses,
National Taxi Workers' Alliance chapter works to secure resources to help with membership recruitment, dues development, and institution-building. The National Taxi Workers’ Alliance’s most active chapter remains the one in New York. Over 15,000 taxi cab drivers are currently members of the NYC Chapter. More than 90 percent of NYC’s cab drivers are immigrants, belonging mostly to the South Asian diaspora from countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. Currently the National Taxi Workers’ Alliance does not have any collective bargaining rights as they represent a non-traditional workforce. Taxi cab drivers are not covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act which protects workers’ safety