Such Miraculous Traveling, Thank Gd

Jerusalem Egged Bus

We're "carless," meaning that we don't have a car. So to travel to and from Shiloh, we're very dependent on others, public transportation, rides planned and "spontaneous," and above all, the mercy and miracles of Gd.

I'm the impatient type. I hate waiting. It makes me nuts. Unless I'm pretty certain that there will be a bus in 5-10 minutes, I prefer waiting at a bus stop where there's also a chance for a ride aka tremp. I also time my leaving home for when there should be a bus very soon or lots of people passing with cars, who could offer a ride. I also have a pretty good knowledge of Jerusalem bus routes, the lightrail and connecting stops.

For years I've said that I travel by siyate d'Shmaya caful, meaning "doubled hand of Gd." First is that like all travelers, my safety is in Gd's Hand, and second it's thanks to Gd that I even get on the road.

How to travel, which bus or ride to get into, sometimes demands split-second decisions:

"Should I get into that ride which only goes part way?"
"Will this bus stop give me a better chance for a ride home?"
"Does this look like a good driver?"
"Do I have enough time before my scheduled bus to do a quick shopping?"

The list of questions as I travel is really much longer.

Yesterday after checking out some new kitchen stuff (bli eyin haraa, slowly making progress) and seeing one of my baby grandsons and his parents, I started on my way home. I caught a #18 and hoped I would be able to get a #66 from King David Street. But there wasn't any listed on the sign or app, so I walked as quickly as possible to the lightrail across from the Municipality. I took that to Pisgat Zeev and waited for a bus there.

Since I have a month's unlimited bus ticket this month, I can get on and off buses and the lightrail between Shiloh (actually Eli) and as far as Mevaseret Zion or Maale Adumim. That gives me a lot of flexibility in traveling.

I checked the schedule of buses to Shiloh and saw that there'd *probably be one in about half an hour. Now, would that give me time for a quick shopping in Rami Levy, Shaar Binyamin or not? OK it would depend on how quickly I could get to Shaar Binyamin. But I also must remember that the last time I tried it, I missed my bus. Maybe it would be better to just get off a Hizme-the "city line" and tremp home...

A minute later a #468 came. I could take it to Ofra, which is more than half the trip home. Usually, that's my principle:

Take the first bus or ride that is going in the right direction as long as it has a chance of connecting buses and/or rides.

But for some inexplicable reason, I jumped off at Hizme. Within seconds there was a ride to Ofra, but again, I didn't go for it. Something in my head kept saying to wait for an even better ride, even though the chance was minimal. A minute later someone I know was going to Maale Levona and could drop me off at Ofra. As I weighed the pros and cons in nanoseconds I heard my name being called. Just past the bus stop a neighbor had stopped and was inviting me for a ride home.

I ran to the car, got in and had a ride to my door. Totally miraculous. Gd is truly great!

*There is never any guarantee that a bus will arrive. They breakdown and there aren't any spares. Sometimes even two in a row don't show.

Public Bus Travel Update, Easier Than I Thought

For the first time in ages, last Friday I traveled via the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. The last time I had taken a bus from there, I just had to say "senior" when I bought my ticket from the driver. I remember being "insulted" that he didn't claim I looked too young or at least ask for identification.

Now since I heard that I'd have to put money into my RavKav bus/train card and use it to pay, like a prepaid credit card, I was nervous. I had never done that before. Friends told me that it was the only way I could get the senior discount.

I'm lucky that I know Hebrew, because so many of the signs were Hebrew only, but the machine does have an English option. I went to a clerk; I prefer people. I asked him to put ns100 into my card, which he did. Of course I paid. I used a credit card.

The RavKav is personal. It has my Identity number and a photo of me. You only get a discount if you have a personal one, and you're old enough, or handicapped, of course.

Tourists pay full-fare. Actually a few years ago when I was in the states and took the train from New York to Philadelphia, I was told that my US passport didn't qualify me for senior discount. I needed a special American card. Later on in the visit my friend and I went to the special office to get one, and they still wouldn't give me. They said that I needed something other than a passport. And I'm an American citizen...

Apparently, here in Israel, if you're qualified for a discount, the sum you deposit in your card is doubled automatically. When you pay a fare, the "full fare" is subtracted from the card. But it's really the half fare, because as in my case the ns100 became ns200.

Not only was I able to use my RavKav to pay for the bus to Ashdod, but in Ashdod the local bus driver accepted it for payment to the hotel.

The only English signs I found in the bus station told people about the special bus to Ben-Gurion Airport and the bus to Tel Aviv. Information about depositing money in your RavKav was only in Hebrew. The powers there figure that anyone who's Israeli enough to have a RavKav must know Hebrew.

And if you need English explanations, I hope this blog post helped you.

Where was The Police?

Yesterday afternoon we got stuck in a humongous mess of a traffic jam at the junction of Sha'ar Binyamin. Apparently, a car had seriously stalled between Sha'ar Binyamin and Adam, and by the time our bus was ready to rejoin traffic on Route 60, the traffic was already backed up a kilometer to the north.

There was total bedlam as cars, vans and trucks cut and U-turned wherever they dared. Traffic on the dirt security road was heavy.

There's a police station in Sha'ar Binyamin, and a fit policeman could have walked over in about five minutes, even faster by car. There should have been a police crew directing traffic. It's a total miracle that we didn't get totally tangled up for hours. That was my fear, since we were in a rush to make it to Jerusalem on time for Israel's Place Among the Nations, in the Menachem Begin Heritage Center.

I sent an email to the police at the time and don't know if they actually sent anyone, since the bus driver managed to join the slow-moving traffic on Route 60 to Jerusalem. We crawled for a couple of miles and by then the stalled car must have been towed. Thank Gd we got to Jerusalem and the Begin Center on time, no thanks to the local police.

Jerusalem Egged Buses Modernizing, Part 2

Jerusalem Egged Buses Modernizing, Part 1, is about the new way of paying for bus rides in order not to waste the driver's time. It's more complicated than the "exact change only" which is required in some places abroad. The complication is that not all bus stops are equipped with paying machines, and you can't pay the driver. Part 2 is about the modernizing of Egged Jerusalem buses:

Charge Your Phone/Tablet/Laptop As You Ride

Yes, in the newest buses, if you're lucky, you'll find yourself next to these chargers. You have to provide your own cord of course, but it's still a very nice little modern convenience.

People who travel in cars generally have chargers easily available, but we bus travelers dependent on public transportation  sometimes find ourselves wandering like gypsies.

I try to remember to have a portable charger with me and a charger you plug into an electric socket. They both have the type of wires you need to use the chargers on the bus.

Enjoy!

PS if have any suggestions for other topics of "improvement" or modernization on the buses, please let me know, thanks.

Jerusalem Egged Buses Modernizing, Part 1

For the past few weeks, there have been announcements and warnings about major changes on Egged's Jerusalem buses.

To speed up travel, bus drivers will no longer be "clerks" selling tickets and making change. They aren't going the way of the American "exact change only." We are supposed to use these little machines to load our RavKav cards with the tickets we need.

This is fine if the bus stop has one of the machines, like the one here, and you have a charge/credit card and time. Some machines will take cash, and there are special RavKav centers in some of the malls around town. Passengers on the Jerusalem Lightrail have gotten used to the fact that we can't buy a ticket on the train, but the trains are more frequent than than many buslines. It can be very annoying to miss a bus that only comes every twenty minutes, because you were loading your card.

Frequent travelers who get a monthly pass will just have to deal with it once a month. Many other regular users of the trains and buses keep a number of trips on their card, so they won't be caught empty. You can check the content on those machines. For people like me, who usually begin our bus travels to Jerusalem in Egged Taavura, it's less problematic, since our bus drivers can load the RavKav cards with the various options. There are no ticket machines in our area.

The only people who will really find this problematic are tourists and others who don't have RavKav cards*, but I think they can be purchased from the machines and other places.

If I've gotten anything incorrect here, please let me know, thanks.

*There are two basic types of RavKav cards. One is the personal one, with a picture, registered to a single person. It automatically charges discount rates for the Senior Citizens and those officially recognized as handicapped by government authorities. The second is the "anonymous" card which can be used by anyone. It gives the 90 minute transfer but no senior/handicapped discount, nor can you do the special "all day" ticket.

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #23 For One Shekel in the CBS

This is a continuation in my ongoing series about public toilets in Jerusalem. See #22, #21,#20, #19, #18, #17, #16,  #15a, #15,  #14, #13, #12, #11, #10, #9,  #8, #7,  #6,  #5, Saved by The First Station aka #4a, #4, #3, #2 and #1


I generally look only for the free loos, WCs Public Toilets, but sometimes there aren't any. That's the case in the Jerusalem Central Bus Station aka the CBS. The last time I was there, to meet a friend who was arriving from another city by bus, I didn't have time to check out all of the loos. I just went to the main one which is one flight down from the main entrance. You need to take an elevator by the front door and press -1. 

You'll find this revolving door gate* with a small machine that takes your shekel and lets you in. From there you'll find a hallway off of which are three types of loos, Male, Female and Handicapped. There was none of that awful urine smell which  is a sign that the cleaning has been insufficient.  I was pretty impressed. 

As you can see, the Ladies Room is nice and big with two walls of sinks and quite a few stalls. When I was there noontime there was plenty of paper.  

Apparently, Egged, the big bus company, no longer owns the bus station, which is also a small mall. The two shopping floors, which includes the Food Court, seem to be doing nicely.  

handicapped toilet

It's possible that people enter for commercial reasons, shopping and eating and not just to take a bus. Considering that the public toilets are near the main entrance, that's also a reason to go into the building. There was a time when everyone had to put their bags through the X-Ray security, but this is not all the time nowadays. There are guards who "eyeball it," simple profiling everyone who enters and only requesting further security checks, when they are suspicious of someone. 

*For those who can't get through the revolving door because of walkers, handicapped or baby carriages etc, there is someone who can open a wide enough gate.

Depressing and Deteriorating Jerusalem Central Bus Station

The  Jerusalem Central Bus Station is relatively new, at least by my standards. It's barely fifteen years old. The basic design was good, with lots of shopping, a food court etc. After a few years, it was discovered that the airflow system was poorly designed, and too much dangerous bus fumes, carbon monoxide etc were getting in. So they had to make some changes for the health of the workers and customers. You'll see here that there are special "airconditioner-filters" over the doors to the buses.

Our Shiloh buses used to have it as its first/last stop there, so we commuters would greatly enjoy its facilities. But a few years ago, Egged bus company sold it and moved many of the bus lines out, including ours. Now when I go in, it's usually for a store or just to get indoors or because of curiosity or to go to the "RavKav" bus/train ticket office. I was there the other day to check out some of the stores. Of course I just had to see what had changed. The lower shopping floors and food court seemed to be nice and busy. But the big shock was that escalators going up to the third floor, where the buses leave from, was dead. People still walked it. I took the regular steps, more comfortable for the knees, and there's also an elevator.



Here are some of the pictures I took. The lighting is awfully dreary. Many eating places are closed and boarded up. The entire top floor is also out of use, as is the public toilet near the synagogue. At least I saw women praying or saying Psalms when I peeked in.  There are also fewer open ticket counters.

Mystery Bus...

Another bus "service" rant. Public transportation here has its good points and bad ones. Of course I'm happy we have buses, and there's a nice percentage of them that go up to my neighborhood. I've even begun to trust them enough to wait for the buses around the corner from my house, rather than leave home much earlier to walk to the main stop.

We also have these screens that are supposed to tell us, which line is arriving, which direction (last stop) and when, meaning in how many minutes it should arrive.

One problem is that only one bus line is ever mentioned, though two come to Shiloh. Davka only one to my neighborhood. At the bus stop in the "center" which services both bus lines, only the 461 shows up.

And now things are worse, because, as you can see, it doesn't give the "destination" information. There's no way to know if the expected bus is going to Jerusalem or Maale Levona.

It's a mystery....

Davka, Here We Need to Know...

Photo taken in Ma'ale Adumim

Here in Israel, more and more bus stops have these screens which show us which buses are coming and in how much time. Granted there are quirks, like the fact that a bus will show up a couple of minutes early or late. Or like the problem with the Shiloh ones which only show one of the bus routes that come to Shiloh... That means that we must stay on our toes and not trust them 100%. But they are helpful. Last week I left work (in Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin) early to catch the bus to my neighborhood, but it didn't come. It wasn't even listed on the screen. Then suddenly it was listed, but the time indicated was about a half an hour late. Yes, the bus was late, so the information there was accurate. We even called the bus company to check, and they confirmed the delay.

There's one Jerusalem stop that really needs one of those screens. It's the "top" of Sderot Eshkol which services all of our Mateh Binyamin and Shomron buses, plus lots of buses to Pisgat Zeev and Neve Yaakov and other destinations.

That stop is usually full of waiting passengers, because it's the bus stop closest to the lightrail Ammunition Hill stop. Many times we need to know if we've missed our bus or not. Should we wait for our bus or take any to the "cityline" or Shaar Binyamin? Not all passengers know the schedule well enough to time travelling, and frequently we can't really time our arrival to perfectly make connecting buses.

Last night when my friend and I were going home from the Women in Green vigil, we were almost glad to see that we had missed our bus, when it escaped the bus stop before we could get to it. At least we knew to take another bus to  the "cityline," aka the Hizme machsom.

Who decides which bus stops get those screens? Please send this to them, thanks.

Just a Partial Victory

still out in the cold and rain, sun and snow

I've blogged on how happy we are that our bus routes now extend past Pisgat Ze'ev and end up not far from Cinema City, near what's called the Kiryat Memshala,  the Government Office area near the Knesset, on the way to the Israel Museum. My husband is on the residents committee that has been negotiating with and lobbying Egged and the Transportation Ministry for that improvement, and people are always thanking me for those efforts and success, though partial.

There are people who have told me that during the year we were exiled to Pisgat Zeev, they had never once taken a bus home. It was just too inconvenient and complicated. They just tremped aka hitchhiked. Now they are back to taking buses, even though we're forced to wait in the elements, meaning outside.

I took these photos last week of people waiting at the most popular of the bus stops, the beginning of Yirmiyahu street just up (and let's stress that UP) from Center 1.

As you can see, it was a rainy day, and many tried for protection with umbrellas, because there wasn't enough room at the double-bus stop. Many buses stop there, and even if you're on one of the few seats you may be very unlucky. You may find yourself missing the bus, because you can't see the number quickly enough. The infirm and those will young children and lots of packages are at most risk.

When our buses left from the Central Bus Station, we had protection from the weather, security inspections to keep out Arab terrorists, and there was something to do --shop, wander, pray in the synagogue and eat-- if we were early for the bus.

Our public transportation on Egged Tavura, though improved, still isn't what it should be.

Fighting "City Hall" and Winning!!!

Finally, Our Buses Will Go The Whole Route to Central Jerusalem

Residents of Shiloh, Maale Levona and Eli protested our bus banishment to Pisgat Zeev at the Mateh Binyamin offices in Psagot. 

After a year of struggle and great difficulties, we the public bus passengers won a battle. We fought "city hall" and are victorious. Our bus, the two main Shiloh routes will no longer end in Pisgat Zeev, the most northern neighborhood, by the "city line," exit from Jerusalem. Our buses will join those of Tel Zion, Bet El, Adam etc and reach the area near the Central Bus Station, actually not far from the Israel Museum. It's not a full victory. We all want to be indoors while waiting for buses, rather than outdoors, but it's a great improvement.

The bus stop closest to CBS, just up the street from Center 1

The changes start tomorrow, Gd willing. Besides the fact that we still have to wait outdoors, rain or shine, our bus schedules have changed. Obviously we have fewer, less frequent buses, because the bus route is now longer. One advantage to having a bus stop by Center 1 is that they have cleaner and free toilets, unlike those in the Central Bus Station. 

PHOTO of THE DAY: Gevalt: Public Transportation

OK, I must admit that if you're not familiar with Hebrew writing you won't get this. You won't know why there's a problem.

Here's how the sign should look:

Yes, it's upside down. And PS it says עצור, atzur, STOP. I took the photo on the 463 bus from Shiloh to Sha'ar Binyamin yesterday when I was on my way to work. 

B"H, A Miracle!

In this post is a haiku of thankfulness to Gd.  I had actually written this in a couple of versions on facebook when I got home last night.

Today I didn't really shop much in Rami Levy but had bulky stuff, because we got the holiday gifts (which I'll give to one of my kids.) I was wondering how I'd tremp home, since with all my stuff it wouldn't fit on my lap. And then the friend who usually takes me to Ofra had to shop, so I said:

"I'm going to the bus stop and if I get a ride, I won't be there."

I really didn't know what to do, since the bus gets to Shaar Binyamin about 9:36pm, and it was over ten minutes later. But I trudged and prayed. Just as I was almost there, I saw a bus approaching, and it looked like a bulletproof one. Then I saw it was the 461, my bus (the one to my neighborhood) so I flew and it waited for me and took me home.

A real miracle
bus was late, so I caught it
Gd is truly great!

I think the driver thought I was nuts when I asked:

"You're late especially because of me, so I can get a ride home? Right?"

The driver may not have understood, but I have no doubt that this was a great gift from Gd to me, and he was the tool.

the 461 going up to my neighborhood

Public Transportation Woes

On one hand the bus service here in Israel is improving. There are cell phone applications that will tell you what bus is coming when. And there are computerized signs by some of the bus stops that also indicate which bus, destination and in how much time. In Jerusalem they are trilingual (when working) with Hebrew, Arabic and English. This sign in Ariel was very useful when I went to visit my cousin.

Signs have been put up in Shiloh, too. Yesterday, when I was on my way to work I saw one.

It had just some of the information. It showed only one bus line in one direction. It said that the 461 to Jerusalem would be in 15 minutes. Then the countdown started, and the time got shorter and shorter, but before the bus arrived, suddenly it said:

אין נסיעות בקרוב

Ain nisi'ot bikarov

No trips in the near future.

That was very peculiar and a pretty obvious technical foul-up. Soon after, I got a ride to Ofra, and the sign had the same news. Another waiting passenger used his phone's application to check, and there were buses on the way. I had to delete mine from my phone, since the phone has insufficient memory.

I don't know how accurate the application was, because I got a ride to work before the bus came. I take tremps not to boycott the bus service Gd forbid, but because I don't have time to waste.

The Death of the Jerusalem Central Bus Station

I used to love the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, because it was a lot more than just a bus stop. It was/is a small mall, with buses and a synagogue (that even had a room for women to doven or say Tihillim (psalms,) shops and food places of all sorts. It used to be pleasant enough as a mall just to go in to shop or eat.

I had heard all the reports about the high levels of air pollution and the fact that it hadn't been planned well, but that was more a danger to those who worked there, who spent hours there day after day. For the traveler or shopper there was always less danger.

But just under a year ago we, travelers to and from Judea and Samaria were totally banished from there. OK, we can go and take a bus to Sderot or Tel Aviv, but we can't take a bus to Shiloh or Tel Tzion.

A few weeks ago, I had some free time and decided to walk in. I must say that I was shocked. Even though the bus station is relatively new, it looked like a dump.

Not even the clock works! A bus station should have clocks, working clocks, all over, in every direction.

And this electric board that used to give me information about buses to all over the country is dead. How could there be no basic maintenance in a building as important as the Jerusalem Central Bus Station?

In its heyday, when all the platforms were being used by a number of lines, the area on the right of this picture would have been lit up with information about the schedules. Now it's dark.

Fewer bus lines means fewer passenger which means fewer customers for the stores meaning that it gets harder to rent them out.

The CBS as the signs call it, looked dark and dreary. Maybe it had no future...

Bus Protest at Benjamin Regional Council, Psagot

Ramalla as seen from Psagot

I hadn't been in Psagot for years. It's a yishuv northwest of Jerusalem which is more a suburb or neighborhood of Ramalla in terms of its actual location. It was established around the same time that we moved to Shiloh in the early 1980's. For whatever the reason, the "powers" decided to make Psagot our "capital," and the local administrative offices are there.

As I had written yesterday on Shiloh Musings, the ordinary citizen of Mateh Binyamin, the Benjamin Regional Council are steaming mad about the changes in our public transportation. For that reason, yesterday a few dozen of us from Shiloh, Eli, Shvut Rachel and Ma'ale Levona went off to protest at the offices of Avi Ro'eh, the "governor" of our region.

This was not a very well planned protest, but it was certainly an emotional one. As we wandered around the building shouting and holding up signs.

חוזרים למרכזית Chozrim l'Merkazit, Return to Central Bus Station

Our main theme/demand was that we want our main Jerusalem stop to be returned to the Central Bus Station and not on the street of the outermost northern neighborhood Pisgat Zeev.



Finally, our regional head Avi Ro'eh agreed to talk and listen to us, but under his conditions, outside "as not to disturb the workers." We said our bit, and he listened. Avi said that they are already trying to get our earliest and latest buses to be from "the area of the Central Bus Station." It would require recalculating the schedule. Those buses will also be outdoors, at the same location that Beit El is protesting about.

I'll keep you updated, G-d willing.