Free Parking for Tel Aviv Residents

The Tel Aviv Municipality is planning to change to the cost of on street parking charges and will allow free parking anywhere in the city for its residents, while increasing the cost of parking for non-residents from 4.50 Shekels an hour to 5 Shekels an hour, according to Haaretz.  The plan is yet to be approved by the City Council or Transport Ministry.

Tel Aviv to Eilat Railway approved by Israeli Government

The Israeli Government has approved the construction of a high speed railway line between Eilat and Tel Aviv.

The planned 350km railway line which will connect the ports of Tel Aviv and Eilat will provide a new alternative route for shipping cargo between Europe and Asia, with a promised journey time between the two cities of approximately 2 hours.

The expected cost of construction of the two track railway line is 8.6 billion Shekels.

The Government decision will see a committee set up to be chaired by Harel Locker the Prime Minister's Director General to consider how the railway line should be built, either through public funding, private funding or an agreement with another Government.  The preferred option of the Transport Ministry is for the railway to be developed in conjunction with the Chinese.

The railway will not be completed until at least 2018.

Tel Aviv to Eilat Railway to be approved by Government in Israel

Israel National News is reporting that Israel's Government is expected to next week approve the proposed train line between Eilat and Tel Aviv.

It is expected that the railway line, which has an estimated budget of over 7 billion Shekels, will either be a national project, built by a private franchisee or developed in collaboration with China.

It is understood that a collaboration with China is the preferred option of Israel's Transport Ministry, where a Chinese Government company would construct the railway.

Once complete the railway would allow journeys between Tel Aviv and Eilat in just over two hours.

Is the Rav Kav Smart Card infringing on Human Rights in Israel?

Is the Rav Kav Smart Card infringing on Human Rights in Israel?

The new Rav-Kav smart card now required to be used by public transport users in Israel may infringe the human rights of passengers, Haaretz is reporting.  Human rights are concerned that the Transport Ministry in Israel may be infringing the privacy of bus passengers in Israel by requiring passengers to provide personal details to receive the card including a photograph, name, age, address and identity card number.

When all the personal information is collated in the database together with the travel patterns of passengers, questions may be raised about the protection of the rights of passengers using the Rav Kav cards.  There are currently half a million Rav Kav cards in use in Israel.  Human Rights groups are therefore calling for guideline to be put in place to protect the information of public transport users.

Soldiers banned from using trains during the Sunday Morning Rush Hour, Road 1 into Jerusalem to be widened

Soldiers banned from using trains during the Sunday Morning Rush Hour


In order to save the IDF money and to relieve the heavy crowding on Israel’s trains on Sunday mornings, when thousands of soldiers use the rail lines to return to their bases after weekends off, soldiers were yesterday banned for the first time from using Israel Railways between 6am and 9am on Sunday mornings.  Instead soldiers are being encouraged to use 'free army buses' which are running from train stations.


What are your views on this, did it make your journey better?  Are your a soldier that is suffering from this new policy?  Leave a comment.






Road 1 into Jerusalem to be widened


Following the initial Government approval in April 2011, Haaretz has reported that the Supreme Court has given the go-ahead to the project, by rejecting complaints into the construction of the wider and improved road leading into Jerusalem


The construction is likely to take four years to complete, which will see new bridges and tunnels built to make the journey into and out of Jerusalem easier and quicker, by removing many of the steep hills and sharp corners between Shar Hagai and the entrance to Jerusalem.

New Bus Routes in Jerusalem begin tomorrow (Friday 13 January 2012)

Following the introduction of the Light Rail Line in Jerusalem last year, bus routes will start to be overhauled in Jerusalem from Friday 13th January 2012.

The bus network will see a number of changes over future months with the  existing routes travelling through many neighbourhoods being replaced by shorter .  These new routes will aim to bring residents from suburban neighbourhoods within Jerusalem to connection stops either on the Light Rail Line or the Rapid Bus Transport Routes, with an increasing number of transfers involved for passengers' journeys.

The changes to the first set of 22 bus routes will begin from 13th January 2012 in south west Jerusalem and should see fewer buses using the congested Agripas Street.

Map Showing the new bus routes and connections to the Light Rail.

The Transport Ministry in Israel has announced the following new routes.

Full details of changes can be found at the Jerusalem Transport website.

Route 5 (Ramat Hakerem - Homot Shemuel) - This bus route will be connect to the Light Rail Line at Yaffa Noph and will not go through the Central Bus Station.
Route 9 ( Central Bus Station - Givat Ram) - This will be rerouted to go through Givat Moshe and the Government Complex.
Route 12 (East Talpiot - Hadassah Ein Kerem) - This will go via the Patt Junction.
Route 13 ( Talpiot Industrial Zone - Katamon - Central Jerusalem) - This will be rerouted in the city centre.
Route 13a (Givaatt Mashoar - Har Herzl) - This will be a new bus line.
Route 14 (Malha - Central Bus Station) - This will be a new bus line.
Route 16 (Bayit V'Gan - Har Hozim) - The bus route will change slightly.
Route 18 (Malha Train Station - Central Bus Station) - The bus route will no longer include Kiryat Yovel.
Route 20 (Givaatt Mashoar - Har Herzl) - This will connect to Mount Herzl Light Rail Station.
Route 21 (Ramat Sharet - Talpiot Industrial Zone) - This will connect the two Light Rail Stations.
Route 23 (Science and Arts Institute - Mount Herzl) - This will be a new short route.
Route 24 (Stern - Mount Herzl) - This will follow the old Route 18 to Mount Herzl Station.
Route 24a (Malha Train Station - Mount Herzl) - This will be a new short route.
Route 26 (Stern - Mount Herzl) - A new short route.
Route 27 and 27a (Hadassah Ein Kerem/Even Saphir - Mount Herzl) - These will be new short routes.
Route 28 (Shachrai Street - Ein Karem) - This will be slightly rerouted to connect to a Light Rail Station Yaffa Nof.
Route 29 - This will be replace Route 54.
Route 33 (Glia - Har Nof) - This will be slightly rerouted to the Yaffa Nof Light Rail Station.
Route 39 and 39a (Bayit V'Gan - Har Hozvim) - This will be slightly rerouted to the Yaffa Nof Light Rail Station.
Route 40 - This will replace Route 36.
Route 49a  - This will replace Route 59.
Route 50 Beit Hakerem) - The bus line around Beit Hakerem will be slightly changed.
Route 69 ( Mount Scopus - Central Bus Station - Givat Ram) - This will be a new bus line servicing Ammunition Hill Light Rail Station.
Route 150 (Aminadab - Aora - Mount Herzl) - This will be a shorterned route.

Tender Published for Tel Aviv Light Railway Tunnels

NTA - Metropolitan Mass Transit Ltd has today published the tender for the digging of tunnels for the two lines of the Tel Aviv Light Railway.

The tendering process is due to close on 27 March 2012, with the total cost of the project expecting to be several billion Shekels, which will require two parallel 11km tunnels and a 4.6km tunnel to be built.

The first Light Rail line in Tel Aviv is due to open in 2017 to be followed in 2020 by a second line.