The battle by secular activists for public transportation in Yerushalayim on Shabbos may be taking a new direction. While to date the battle has been to operate buses, including limited privately-funded Friday night bus service, one solution that is looked upon as a possibility is Uber.

CEO Uber Israel Yoni Greifman explains that the smartphone app permits one to hail a Huber cab in a matter of minutes. While Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz opposes the entry of Uber into the Israeli marketplace, Greifman told Globes in a March 2015 interview “Minister Katz has led many reforms to open the transportation market to competition, such as the Open Skies initiative, and the ports, therefore we believe that someone like him – and I won’t get into personalities – will want to open the market to competition, and will ultimately want to bring this concept to Israel.”

He explains the company is now operating in over 300 cities in 58 countries and he remains optimistic Israelis will soon learn to rely on Uber as is the case in a growing number of cities worldwide. Greifman insists that Uber cars will cut taxi ride costs by 40%.

The ministry remains opposed to the UberX plan, which permits private citizens to use their free time to become drivers, providing more vehicle and permitting one to earn extra money. Clearly tax authorities in Israel will monitor the pulse of this process for if private citizens turn UberX drivers, it will create a new source of revenue that authorities will want to monitor.

In Israel, some believe that while the law prohibits public buses on Shabbos, Uber may provide the solution they are seeking for transportation on the holy day.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)