The Knesset on Wednesday hosted a town hall meeting addressing the recent massive changes in public bus service in Jerusalem, a meeting attended by chareidi community representatives from around the capital. One after another, community representatives spoke, detailing the havoc that has resulted due to the change in bus service in the capital, elimination of routes, changing of other routes and adding new and different bus lines.
The primary complaint seems to have stemmed around Egged’s master plan of cutting bus routes, expediting the time for a specific route, which was accomplished by cutting connections between frum neighborhoods. Riders explained that in short, yes, the routes are quicker because they must get off and wait for a second bus for what used to be a one-bus ride.
Committee Chairman Uri Maklev detailed the horrors, the growing number of reports received from anguished residents, who insist they were also ill informed, with many commuters simply confused regarding route changes and new bus numbers.
Yahadut HaTorah MK Menachem Eliezer Moses spoke of the new unacceptable realities, explaining one is now cut off from the Kosel from Aperion area, as well as the surrounding streets, a chareidi area that used to be one bus away from the holy site but today, the situation is more timely, complicated and expensive. He spoke of difficulties in getting to and from Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. Representatives of the chareidi community explained their constituents comprise 65% of the bus riders in the capital, and Moses questioned how such major changes were implemented without first consulting community leaders.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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7 Responses
Where is that photo from? Looks like a group from an ARAB village.
#1: it is.
Why do they want to get to Ein Kerem? They’re supposed to be boycotting that hospital.
From the Aperion area to the Kosel? Walk to Ezras Torah (Rachmastrivka/Satmar) or to Tzomet Bar Ilan. That is very close.
Givat Shaul lost its only bus to the shuk. To get from Givat Shaul to the shuk, we need 2 buses now.
Result: we go by foot. Egged can (figuratively) drop dead (as we say in Dutch).
The problem here is that, all these new bus routes were published in all the newspapers for weeks. But the charedi public do not read the newspapers because they are deem “anti-charedi m“, they only read pashkevilim and many of them cover any other poster ads that are placed around the city. Also, this MK Menachem Eliezer Moses is less than honest because there is bus # 3 that passes through the Aperion area that goes to the Kotel many times by the hour. I thought that the charedim were staying away from Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital after calling for a boycott. I wonder why they still go there after all the name calling, rudeness against the staff.
What happened to 32א? It’s route seems to have disappeared. It used to get me from Ramot to City Center in about 15 minutes. Now every time I travel I feel like I’m going on a mystery tour.
Buses are a direct and painful tax on the poor, weak, and aged citizens of Jerusalem. And by targeting their worst changes at the Charedi neighborhoods, the city only revealed publicly what we all knew all along:
they want the poor, weak, aged, and especially the Charedi elements of the city, out.
Too bad they cannot see that but for us they wouldn’t even be here…