Beit Shemesh Mayor Dr. Aliza Bloch and Councilman Shmuel Greenberg, who holds the transportation portfolio, filed an administrative petition against the Transportation Ministry in the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday.

Since being elected, the mayor has held many meetings to address the city’s lagging public bus service, learning it is suffering from years of neglect.

The Transportation Ministry in 2017 released a tender which became snarled in a dispute between the ministry and the bus companies (Egged and SuperBus) which provide service to the city. As a result, nothing has happened since then, and therefore, bus service has not been upgraded to address the city’s population growth and funds for additional buses in the city have been held up.

The petition filed by the city seeks to compel the ministry to add 150,000 kilometers of weekly bus routes. This would translate into a 50% increase in bus service as compared to the situation today. The city maintains there is an immediate urgent need for 100-170 new line around the city, and this is without any connection to the delayed tender from 2017.

Mayor Bloch: The residents of Beit Shemesh are being held hostage by the transportation situation in t he city. This is not because of a tender that is stuck for about two years, as residents suffer from a lack of bus lines and outdated buses. The residents do not deserve a poor public transportation service and I will not let this happen either. We have filed the petition today and intend to improve the service to residents”.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)