Dear Angry Driver,
Please do not complain that you received a traffic ticket in Jerusalem
because you were on the light rail tracks when the light turned red.
For too many years, too many Jerusalem streets looked like this.
It is a big deal for us in Jerusalem to finally be able to get anywhere…
even though it may take still a very long time.
Luckily only one man has been seriously injured, in this area of the tracks…so far.
As you sit in your private vehicle, we are standing on the train without room to move,
that is, assuming that we can elbow our way inside.
For the first few months of operation the Light Rail train ride was free of charge,
but as of December 1, 2011, we get to pay for the privilege.
One has to get through the crowd to swipe their Rav-Kav card on this machine
before a roving inspector arrives to scan your card to check for payment.
Dear Angry Driver, there is also a large fine for those who haven’t paid their fare.
At least CitiPass employed a small army to help educate the suffering public,
most are ignorant about how to put money on those Rav-Kav plastic cards.
You must not remember the Jaffa Street of the last few years,
as the new Jaffa Street scene bears little resemblance to it.
But in constantly changing Jerusalem… this tranquil scene will not last for long.
This corner of King George and Jaffa Streets, which housed Sbarro before a
suicide bomber blew himself up murdering fifteen people, is slated for renovation.
The major construction mess of a multistory building will be upon us once again.
And Angry Driver…be happy you only got ONE ticket.
There are several locations in Jerusalem where teams of police
regularly wait and pull over car after car and ticket the drivers.
You didn’t see the one white car that got through with the taxis,
while both police officers were busy writing up tickets on each side.
Wonder if he had any idea of just how lucky he was?
Dear Angry Driver, maybe you could tell him?
Here’s my first attempt to pay for the ride: me-ander: Being a Good Law-Abiding Citizen, Paying for The Jerusalem Light-Rail
I saw your post last week. I went the last free day, as I can walk anywhere I need usually faster. People were trying to fill their cards, was wondering how you push your way over when it is crowded.
love the pics! love the train and jerusalem!
Ahh, if everyone was so easy to please!
Well, I love it but I live too far away to have to use it. What I loved were the photos of men and women sitting together on the train. With all the arguments and shame about the separation of females and males in certain parts of the country, one wonders how long it will take before Ultra Orthordox Jews presume to dictate to secular and practising Jews that genders should be separated on the train as well. Maybe we could encourage some of our female singers to sing on the train!!!
Wait until January 1, 2012, there should be one hate story after another.
The Egged bus routes are all changing. Special number buses that are used by students to get to school are to stop running.
It could take a student in Har Homa or Katamon an hour and a half to get to their Jerusalem school.
The light rail route as of now, does not service much of Jerusalem.
Yes, men and women pack on together… about singing I do not agree. If men do not want to hear women sing, that should be their right.
Stay tuned… afraid that this is not the last chapter of the Saga of the Light Rail
Forgot to mark the “notify me of follow-up comments – so here it is.
Ah yes, the state coercing people to rely on the [crappy] public transportation system, and then absolutely butchering it with this overpriced metal snake. Besides the fact that the string bridge near the CBS is an ungodly eye-sore, the train just forces me to add another leg each way everyday to and from work; whereas one bus was enough before, now I need a bus ride and the train. And cars are prohibitively expensive thanks to our 100% car tax and 100% gas tax, not to mention the horrendous driving in much of the city, particularly after the train was added.
Just met some tourists from Canada who wanted to use the Light Rail, but were not sure about paying for the fare.
I walk. The traffic is awful tonight.
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