The Shabbos bus service which R”L began in Gush Dan this past Shabbos, not only angered the religious and chareidi parties, but also the nation’s taxi drivers, who are planning to protest.
The pilot Shabbos minibus program was hailed a success by organizers, who are now planning to increase additional minibuses on some of the lines.
The taxi drivers union convened on Monday to decide a course of action, a protest against the new service, which is costing taxi drivers millions of shekels they explain. Union officials state that for some drivers, Shabbos is the main day for their parnasa and now, this is vanishing as most prefer to take a minibus for free rather than pay for a taxi.
The taxi drivers plan to begin their protests in the coming days, with some threatening to block roads. “There must be economic logic” explains union leader Mark Azrov. He feels that providing free bus service is the problem, explaining “whoever wishes to party over the weekend should have to pay for transportation, that’s all.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Better bus than taxis. One driver per many people. In fact, a bus with a goyishe driver would significantly reduce the degree of chillul shabbos.
So let me understand….the Taxi drivers who claim to have a monopoly on being mechalel shabbos are joining forces with the Chareidi politicians because the municipality is going to compete with them and offer “free” rides on shabbos in special minivans. Strange bedfellows. Can’t a moishe or yanel be mechallel shabbos these days without competition from his local bureaucrats?
Gadol: where in the article did you read that the taxi drivers are joining forces with the Chareidi politicians? True, both groups want the Shabbos buses stopped, quite apparently for different reasons.