Schedule Ministry of Transportation officials working with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat are preparing for Purim 5772 in the capital, realizing that the failures of previous years compel them to plan to accommodate the anticipated 120,000 Purim riders in the capital, the daily HaMevaser reports.
With Yerushalayim observing Purim on Shushan Purim, this year erev Shabbos, the Purim rush hour will come earlier in the day as residents move up the holiday schedule to accommodate Shabbos preparations.
Transportation officials will focus on an influx of visitors to Yerushalayim during the morning hours, and providing inter-city service early in the afternoon to permit visitors to get home for Shabbos. Many bus stops for inter-city lines will be bypassed during the peak afternoon hours and central pickup points will take the place of the satellite stops.
This will impact buses traveling from the capital to Modi’in Illit, Bnei Brak, Betar Illit, Ashdod, Arad, Kiryat Gat and northern Israel. 1,600 buses will operate to take passengers from the capital to their destination in time for Shabbos.
The actual schedule including stops will be advertised ahead of Purim blei neder. For additional information now, one may phone *8787.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
2 Responses
It will undoubtedly be as crazy if not crazier than in previous years, especially with it being Erev Shabbos. I can just see full buses passing these “central pickup points” and no one arriving there to pick up people waiting to get back to their homes before Shabbos. I would highly recommend that anybody traveling under these circumstances just plan on going to the Central Bus Station and get on their bus at the first stop to prevent waiting forever with no bus coming to take them since everybody else is doing this in the first place. Better to plan in advance than to be stuck before Shabbos.
After this experience, the Yerushalmiyim & Shushanim can enjoy this experice from 2015-2019 4 out of 5 years running, with Shushan Purim coming out on Friday.