News on Cheap Flights and Road Safety - Wednesday 26th January

Cheap Airline Tickets


Globes is reporting that airline tickets from Israel to Europe and America are falling as a result of increasing competition from Arkia Airlines and other European airlines.  Arkia is currently offering flights to European destinations for $99.



Road Safety Committee 

The Knesset has this week set up a Road Safety Sub-Committee to examine a way of reducing road accidents in Israel according to the Jerusalem Post.  The Committee will be chaired by the Kadima Knesset Member Robert Tibayev.  This follows an 11% increase in road accidents in 2010.

The new committee was supported by Or Yarok the road safety organization that has run a campaign criticising the Transport Minister Israel Katz.  

Tuesday 11 January 2011 News about a cheap airline and more on the fast lane

New Cheap Airline Planned for Israel

It has been reported in Ynet that a former employee of the low-cost airline EasyJet is planning to launch JetIsrael a new low cost airline out of Israel.

In other airline news El Al has launched a new option to check-in and choose a seat  via IPhone.


Tel Aviv Fast Lane Technology

The new dynamic toll lane into Tel Aviv is the first of its kind for using a dynamic toll system where the price of the lane varies based on the level of congestion according to Globes.

The technology designed by Siemens and enstalled by Orad Hi-Tech Systems is being used for the new fast lane by Shapir Engineering and is able to predict traffic volume, calculate demand and so determine a price to ensure that traffic on the lane is always able to flow properly.  The cost of the technology to set up and maintain the lane was 120 million Shekels.  The technology was installed by Orad Hi-Tech Systems Ltd
 
Siemens have worked on many other similar projects around the world such as the Stockholm road pricing scheme but the fast lane into Tel Aviv is a uniquie project.  While there are toll lanes in the USA, those lanes have a fixed price.
 
Vehicles using the fast lane are identified by a camera which passes the registration number to a back-office computer and cross-references the information with the Ministry of Transport database of registered vehicles.