The dollar van was public transportation that the public had built without asking the city for permission. The van was a fifteen-passenger van that drove a route that the city did not recognize on a schedule that the city did not publish for a fare that the city did not set. The fare was one dollar. The route was Flatbush to downtown. The schedule was when the van was full. The van was always full because the dollar van understood something the MTA did not. People will ride anything that goes where they are going for a price they can afford.

The dollar van pulled up to the curb and the side door opened and a hand reached out and you took the hand and the hand pulled you in and you sat down and the van moved and you were going somewhere for a dollar. The hand was the only customer service the dollar van provided. The hand said get in. The van said sit down. The driver said nothing. The radio said everything. The radio played soca or reggae or gospel depending on the driver and the driver was the DJ and the DJ did not take requests.

The city said the dollar van was illegal. The city said the dollar van was unsafe. The city said the dollar van did not have proper insurance or proper licensing or proper anything. The dollar van said the city did not have proper bus routes in neighborhoods where the bus came every forty-five minutes and the subway was eight blocks away and the eight blocks were uphill. The dollar van filled the gap that the city had left and the city was embarrassed by the gap and the city's embarrassment became a summons and the summons became a fine and the fine became the cost of doing business and the business continued because a dollar is a dollar and people need to get to work.

I never rode the dollar van because the dollar van did not go to the Lower East Side. The dollar van was a Brooklyn and Queens phenomenon. But I understood the dollar van because I was the dollar van of music. I played on a corner that the city did not recognize for a set list the city did not publish at a price the city did not set. The price was whatever you put in the hat. The route was wherever the song took you. The schedule was when I showed up. The dollar van and I were both unlicensed, uninsured, and necessary.