Assist.
Dollar Vans started in black neighborhoods in NYC.
In the outer boroughs of NYC (Bronx, Queens, Broooklyn) sometimes you have to walk like 15-20 minutes just to get to the closest subway stop. Or if you don't want to walk, you have to wait for a bus that takes as long as 20-30 minutes to arrive.
But Dollar Vans will give you a ride either to/or from the closest major subway station... practically all the way to your doorstep (or within 1 block) and they charge alot less money than a city bus, or a taxi.
So Dollar Vans save (working class) people time & money.

But the City doesn't like that.
Because the City doesn't want to provide 'reliable transportation' services to these certain areas (where black folks predominantly live) in NYC... but they feel ENTITLED to get a portion of the profits that Dollar Vans make, even though the City does absolutely nothing to merit collecting that fee. And they use the NYPD to enforce their demands.
Nowadays, white folks call this
'Ride-Sharing'.
In other cities across the USA, Dollar Vans are also called Jitney's.
The legendary author August Wilson wrote a play called: "Jitney"