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The real-life Harry Potter Knight Bus you didn’t know about – Jitney Buses

By Joseph Hayes

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In both speed, purposes and social attitudes, Jitney Buses are the real-life Harry Potter Knight Buses!

The Knight Bus in Harry Potter is iconic, fast and surprisingly maneuverable it does what it says on the tin, transporting ‘stranded witches and wizards’ to their locations. However, the bus did not have an easy beginning with many pureblood wizards regarding the vehicle with contempt. In some ways, the Bus is similar to a real-life mode of transport called the Jitney Bus. This is both in speed and its purpose as well as some of the social attitudes to it.

The Jitney Bus was brought in to American streets in the first decade of the 20th century. It offered a means of transport to citizens that they had not known before and allowed a quicker and more flexible pace. Meanwhile, in the Wizarding world, the Knight Bus was brought in as a way of modernizing travel while blending into the muddle background.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc

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The Knight Bus appears several times over in the Harry Potter franchise. The first and most famous time perhaps is when it help transports Harry to the Leaky Cauldron after he blows up his Aunt Marge.

However, there are several other mentions of the Knight Bus. Hagrid travels on it on his way to attend Buckbeak’s hearing. Hermione is also a passenger on the Bus when she meets the others after Arthur Weasley is attacked by Nagini. And the illustrious trio travel back to Hogwarts in 1996 on the bus after Christmas.

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Both the Jitney Bus and Knight Bus respectively encountered challenges. The Jitney Bus was regarded as a ‘menace’ by the Railroad companies and faced criticism that it was a ‘novelty’ that would not last. The same arguments were made in the Harry Potter universe against the Knight Bus particularly by pure-blood wizards, that the Knight Bus was a Muggle trinket and not worth wizard’s time.

Yet, the Jitney Bus and the Knight Bus both fulfilled functions previous transport had not. In the case of the Jitney’s these were much faster than streetcars and also more comfortable allowing a more well-rounded service that had never been previously achieved. Meanwhile, for the Knight Bus, comfort was optimum. Toothbrushes and hot chocolate could be purchased on route and even the driver resided in an armchair instead of the more mundane muggle seat.

Within time both the Jitney and the Knight Bus have become iconic in their own right. The Jitney, for instance, both achieved a reputation that although haphazard involved them being comfortable and flexible in their travel approach.

Although the Knight Bus is fantasy whereas the Jitney Bus was very real, they retain things in common. One of these involved providing a form of transport like no other. When the Jitney Bus first appeared in America they allowed a change from the rather rigid and linear approach that the Streetcars was confined to. Likewise, the Knight Bus changed the wizarding landscape from relying purely on broomsticks and other forms of travel that were endangering to those of a subtle while still colorful way to transport wizards anywhere on land.

Both the Jitney Bus and the Knight Bus faced strong criticism and opposition when they came in but both persevered to transform transport for the better.

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Did you know about the Jitney Buses? If so, did you make the connection to the Knight Bus in Harry Potter? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.

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