CityPass officials, the operator of the Jerusalem light rail announces that beginning August 2, 2015, there will be a train every six minutes most of the day and a result of a new agreement, a train will pass every three minutes during the critical hours.

CityPass explains currently, the trains run every 7 to 8 minutes and beginning on August 2nd, that will change to a maximum of 6 minutes and the average waiting time will drop to 3 minutes.

Since the train began operating in the capital in August 2011, ridership has increased from 40,000 daily to over 140,000 daily.

The decision to increase the frequency of trains was made in cooperation with the Ministry of Transportation, the Jerusalem City Hall and CityPass. It is explained operators hope that in addition to cutting waiting time, they hope to bring down the number of riders in a train to make the experience more comfortable and pleasant for commuters.

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz welcomed the figures pointing to a sharp increase in the number of commuters relying on the light rail daily. He added the ministry plans to buy additional cars to accommodate the new schedule and growing number of riders. Katz explained the success to date has served as an impetus to extend the line to the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of N’vei Yaakov as well as extending the line towards Hadassah Ein Kerem.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)