What's a jitney?

I know it's "A small motor vehicle, such as a bus or van, that transports passengers on a route for a small fare." as per the free online dictionary, but is it different from a taxi or something? Is it a British thing?

PeoplePC - News (http://home.peoplepc.com/psp/newsstory.asp?cat=TopStories&id=20080722/48855b40_3421_1334520080722-273330809)

jitney - Google Image Search (http://images.google.co.uk/images?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=jitney&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi)

You get the idea - kind of a tourist taxi bus thing.

Not really british per se.

That def confused me for a while. I'm not sure if it's Brit or NYC, but till late 80s or so, to me a jitney just was a motorized fork lift... <G>


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Jitneys are a form of public transportation common in Singapore, The Philippines and there are even some in Panama. It's like an old world war 2 jeep with a "surrey" on top.

We call it JEEPNEY here if it's a public transportaiton thing.

In Omaha, NE, people pool resources to share a ride across town in a private car driven by its owner or a taxi operator.