Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai on Sunday 17 Teves unveiled the city’s AutoTel program, which will permit persons to rent one of 260 small vehicles positioned around the city for short periods of time measured in minutes. According to City Hall, the program is set to go live in the fall of 2017.

While implementation of the plan will result in using 520 parking spaces around the city, officials are confident it will nonetheless reduce congestion and become an important component of ongoing efforts to reduce traffic around the city. Tel Aviv has launched bicycle rentals as an alternative in the past, and with that program still running it is now offering the AutoTel option.

Huldai explained that “We are going ahead on the assumption, based on similar systems around the world, that every shared car reduces the number of private vehicles on the road by four.”

Huldai added that the program is especially important amid the realization there is no public transportation option on Shabbos and Yomtov.

To become a member of AutoTel, one will have to pay a monthly fee of NIS 50 and then pay for car usage by the minute when taking one of the cars. The rate per minute has not yet been announced but officials promise it will be the same rate for day and night and it will not be expensive. There will be smartphone apps permitting members to locate and book vehicles.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)