Seeking to learn from last year’s Lag B’Omer fiasco, Egged bus officials this year are demanding advanced registration for travelers from Yerushalayim to Kever Rashbi on Lag B’Omer. Egged will insist that Jerusalem travelers phone the registration number, and one will be compelled to designate a pick up location and travel time, and will be assigned a seat on the bus in advance.

Buses will leave all neighborhoods, Egged officials explain, seeking to avoid the congestion seen in past years at central pick up locations. Officials add that with advanced seating, maintaining separate seating for men and women will be achieved with less stress than in the past.

Despite the announcements of the grandiose plan, Egged hasn’t really worked out just how this will all be implemented and the bus cooperative is consulting with outside experts as Lag B’Omer approaches. There is also no solution regarding the congestion in Meron and the total chaos surrounding the Egged parking lot in the north.

For one thing, some travelers will opt to return home relatively quickly, while others wish to spend an extended time. This alone is enough to complicate the return scheduling. Egged officials acknowledge that if a passenger is compelled to find the same bus he/she arrived in, it will be extremely difficult, and in some cases impossible due to the issue of different departure times.

Egged officials are confident this year things will run smother, pointing out most of the chaos was in Jerusalem and advanced ticketing will solve this problem. The advanced ticketing arrangement will not be implemented in Bnei Brak since there are many private transportation services in the city that service the Lag B’Omer travelers. Egged officials are hopeful that in the coming days, they will be able to announce registration for Lag B’Omer in Jerusalem is underway.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)