Egged officials have been notified by the Ministry of Transportation to stop the long-standing arrangement permitting riders on motzei Shabbos to travel from the Kosel without paying the fare. This permitted shomer Shabbos riders to get home to Jerusalem neighborhoods without having to make arrangements before Shabbos. The riders were expected to pay an extra fare during the week to compensate for the motzei Shabbos ride. This permits riders living in frum areas like Geula and Har Nof to return home by bus.
According to Egged, most riders did not make payment during the week and they simply got a free ride on motzei Shabbos. Acting on Egged’s evaluation of the frum motzei Shabbos riders, the ministry has given the order to cancel the arrangement immediately.
This means the many mispallalim arriving at the Kosel for mincha and maariv on Shabbos will have to find a way to get money to make their way home.
Kosel rav Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz expressed surprise upon hearing of the decision, adding it is most ironic that it comes on the week Am Yisrael observes Yom Yerushalayim.
MK (Yahadut Hatorah) R’ Uri Maklev turned to Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz to reverse the decision.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
25 Responses
Inappropriate decision
Sorry but I don´t understand the problem. Why can´t those who come to the Kosel to davnen Mincha make it home in the same way as they came?
#1. Why is it inappropriate? If people weren’t paying during the week, why should Eged continue to offer this leeway? I don’t think Eged would simply lie about not getting paid, especially because I can see how often “free rides” happen on the train in Yerushalayim.
people walk for miles(kilometers)to be able to daven the end of Shabbat at the kotel.its simply too hard for most, esp with tired kids to walk back.Egged makes millions from the frum community-a free ride on motzei Shabbat is in egged’s interest to maintain some + P.R.esp after they sold out for inappropriate bus shelter ads that offend everyone
What a Chillul Hashem
“most riders did not make payment during the week and they simply got a free ride on motzei Shabbos”
Really? If these people are that frum, why are they essentially stealing from the bus company? Were I the bus company I’d do exactly the same thing.
“Why can´t those who come to the Kosel to davnen Mincha make it home in the same way as they came? ”
Well if they are meikel on theft, why don’t they just become meikel on muktzeh and carry money with them to the kosel while it is still Shabat?
If Egged was not getting reimbursed for the “free rides” that they were offering, then why should they not void the agreement. It sounds like genaiva to me if you take a bus ride on credit and don’t pay back. That sounds to be more inappropriate than what egged did. Btw, what does Yom Yerushalayim have anything to do with this??
This is part and parcel of the State’s war against the Torah and Judaism.
1. I’d like to see the study that was able to determine whether or not people were paying later.
2. I’m curious how clear this policy was. I don’t think I ever saw any signs about it. Was it obvious that the policy was that you had to pay later, as opposed to that the first buses motzei shabbos from the kosel were free?
UJM, isn’t stealing against Torah and Judaism?
come on guys what so inappropriate about it you can’t see everything that chilonim do is bad they’re still jews remember
I myself have take the bus on motzri shabbos and have never paid during the week….because i had no idea thats what the policy was…the problem here is miscomunication…dont be so quick to judge im willing to bet if you ask 4 out of 5 americans will say they thought it was just a free ride….eggeds way of giving back
I agree with realisticguy 100%. I’ve taken the kossel bus dozens of times and never knew they expected payment later. Now let’s address that- most Frum people (that use the bus system) have chofshei chodshei (monthly bus passes) and therefore there is no stealing, so let’s stop throwing around accusations of genavah. Secondly, if Egged didn’t want to maintain this service then don’t bring the busses down to shar ashpa until the first bus completes it’s first run with paying customers. The answer is – they were willing to give a freebee to a bus full of people clearly knowing that no one had bus fair or a bus pass the minute after Shabbos. If this was policy then every bus would work on an honor system right after Shabbos not just the kossel busses.
When I was in EY, I took the bus back on Motzoi Shabbos free of charge. I had no idea the deal was to pay for a trip during the week on account of the free ride. I gave the unused part of my kartisia to a Jerushalmi anni when I returned, but again I didn’t know about the arrangement. My hunch is that many others also didn’t know.
Charlie Hall, there is a principle in the Torah: The way you judge others, that’s the way Heaven will judge you. Because you don’t give the benefit of the doubt to the chareidi population, Heaven will come down on you with Midas HaDin.
#12. NOW THAT YOU KNOW , DON’T YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE MECHUYEV TO PAY UP.
IF IT’S TRUE THAT EGGED LET EVERYONE KNOW THEIR POLICY , AND IF IT IS TRUE WHAT THEY ARE SAYING -THAT RIDERS WERE NOT PAYING, THEN THEY ARE A HUNDRED PERCENT RIGHT
TO STOP IT BECAUSE THE CHEZKAS KASHRUS OF THE RIDERS IS LOST.
Realisticguy. 100% correct. I was in israel a long time ago and everybody knew the first bus is free. This is #1 miscommunication, #2 a great opportunity to bash and throw the haredis under the bus. First you have busses for free, then after a couple of years you change the story to make them villians and thieves. Disgusting self hating anti semites in this israeli government. One thing is sure, they will be riding for free to hell soon. Hashem knows the evil and has his ways to deal with them.
Where would u pay for this so called free trip? Any bus driver during the week? At the Central station? An unknown policy is now over!!
Come on bklynmom, what’s so hard to understand just pay double when you get on a bus or pay and get off!!
Once the whole biometric database is up and running, they could scan everyone’s retina or fingerprint or whatever when they board, and send them a bill.
Smfg3- stop making believe that you are a buki b’halacha. Was there a sign posted? Did a statement ever come out that Egged losses hundreds of thousands of shekels on this bus? The answer is no! If Yeshivah world all of the sudden said that every post you place on their website technically cost them storage space, would you hand over $100 in back charges for all the narishkit you post? Well, now you know- so don’t post anymore or pay up. My point is sometimes the cost of doing business negates the actual operating cost. If egged wants to change their policy -fine, but don’t make believe that it’s being changed because chareidim aren’t paying.
Everybody knows that the Chereidim are %100 honest so why are you jumping to conclusions that they are not? Why should you believe Egged, who has a very good reason to lie in order to besmirch the Chereidi community.
Furthermore, no one ever knew that they had to pay and Egged didn’t have to wait so many years to tell them.
Also, the overwhelming majority have monthly bus passes so Egged lost nothing on those people.
The entire government is united in trying to make life as difficult for the Chereidim as possible and that’s the only reason for this lasted gezeira.
To those who are claiming that the majority of frum bus riders have a monthly pass – on what are you basing your claim? Did you take a survey?
“Everybody knows the chareidim are 100% honest.”
I’m as much for dan lkaf zechus as the next guy (ok, maybe not charlie hall) but that’s taking the concept to the extreme and reaching an absurd conclusion.
#20 & 21 are 100% right. Most people were under the impression that Egged was very nice and allowed them to go home for free. There were no signs ever that it’s not so. Maybe they were nice one upon a time and it was free until the chilonim started showing their true colors, thanks to Bennett and Lapid, and ganging up on charedim and making up lies and stories.
Takahmash- ( why am I even responding???) because most chareidim don’t have cars and rely heavily on the bus system. That and the fact that a bus ride is almost 6 shekels and a monthly pass pays for itself with 40 rides. I think it’s safe to assume that if Egged were to charge for that first bus from the kossel they would be empty, because a taxi wouldn’t cost much more. (Remember these people walked to the kossel so it’s also assumed that most don’t live a great distance away, hence the taxi fare not being astronomically more)