Jerusalem train vs. Jerusalem car = tie

February 9, 2011 - 5:46 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, General, Israeliness, Life, News, Technology, Travel 

As we emerged from the tunnel taking us to Jerusalem from Ma’aleh Adumim and eased toward the French Hill/Road No. 1 intersection that leads to downtown Jerusalem, something appeared amiss.

For months now, the sleek Citypass trains have been running on the main thoroughfare in test situations ahead of its planned spring launch. So it wasn’t a surprise to see three-connected trains at the intersection. However, a car next to it situated at an odd angle, along with a group of people standing outside indicated that something was going on.

We made our turn though toward downtown and quickly forgot about the scene, until picking up the newspaper the next morning. Turns out that even before it’s fully in service, there’s been a train-automobile accident. A car ran a red light at the intersection and struck the train as it was crossing, causing light damage to both vehicles but no injuries.

“We can’t do anything about drivers who go through red lights,” said Jerusalem District Police spokesman Shmuel Ben- Ruby, according to The Jerusalem Post.

A spokesman for CityPass, which will be operating the light rail, agreed saying that drivers around the world have learned to coexist with such a system and predicting that it wouldn’t be the last fender bender the city will see as it groans toward the 21st century of transportation.

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Nostalgia Sunday – Jerusalem City Center

January 23, 2011 - 5:24 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, News, Nostalgia Sunday, Technology, Travel 

Last week, Jerusalem’s Light Rail project entered the trial run phase. This included changing the city center’s traffic patterns and causing no little havoc. Not at all like what’s been promised in the pictures… but we’ll reach this idyllic stage eventually…


Image: Jerusalem Municipality website

The municipality has publicized the new traffic arrangements but that hasn’t seemed to calm the population’s ire — particularly cab drivers who are now barred from driving on Jaffa Road. In their minds, it should be as spacious and accommodating as it was in the days of these horse-drawn carriages driving towards the Old City…


Image: Wikimedia Commons

Meanwhile, Jaffa Road has been closed to all traffic except for the good old pedestrian kind — not too different from when King George Street was inaugurated.


Image: Wikimedia Commons

King George eventually did get paved and trees lined the boulevard…

Image: Harry Charles Farmer, Palestine 1947

…while Jerusalem’s few cars passed by Froumine House, home of the first Knesset. But those days are long gone and the need for a public mass transportation system is absolutely critical. Do you hear me, irate cabdrivers and nasty Egged bus drivers?

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Everything will settle down by August (we hope) and the first line of the new Jerusalem Light Rail will take us conveniently from French Hill to Mount Herzl, passing the Jerusalem Central Bus Station on the way. Which, by the way, used to look like this. Who says there’s no such thing as progress!


Image: Egged archive via Pikiwiki

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Downtown Jerusalem gridlock

August 17, 2008 - 11:36 AM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: General, Life, Travel 

Jaffa Road last weekGetting to and from work hasn’t been easy lately. Located just off of Zion Square in downtown Jerusalem, it’s been feeling lately like my office is situated in the nerve center of one of the country’s biggest crowd management fiascos.

The entire city center stretch of Jaffa Rd. is currently being dug up in the name of major public transportation improvements, and traffic patterns in the entire area have been disrupted – both for pedestrians and motor vehicles. Downtown’s streets have been rough going since pipeline upgrades began about five years ago (also in the name of the light rail), but the extreme measures being taken now bring a new level to the chaos.

Pedestrian traffic now moves behind cage-like barriers, with few opportunities to cross the street, or even to pass the person walking painfully slowly in front of you. And for the kilometer or so between the Davidka and the corner of Shlomtzion, buses and taxis are now relegated to one meager lane of motion, meaning that certain blocks of Jaffa Rd. move only westward while others move only eastward. Poorly marked bus stops make for a guessing game as to where one can catch which bus, headed in whichever direction, as rerouted lines wait one-by-one to snake up Wallenberg and/or Strauss so they can travel on Neviim St. in order to circumvent the closures.

Sound confusing? Even the bus drivers don’t get it, seemingly permanent shrugs answering off an endless flow of dismayed bus stop searchers, who have been spotted walking the ten minutes from downtown to Machane Yehuda in order to get there faster than the bus they missed back in Zion Square and ride two stops to the Central Bus Station.

Local business owners are up in arms over the situation, recent debates over coordination and compensation becoming heated and emotional at city hall. Some have even opened that the situation may even represent a tipping point in the capitol’s upcoming mayoral race, with Nir Barkat positioning himself as a vocal champion of the merchants, while the incumbent, Uri Lupolianski, refers to them as de facto rabble-rousing opportunists. And the latest polls show that Haredi internal politics might be paving the way for a Barkat victory.

However, all of the parties involved seem to be forgetting a few key points. One, as uncoordinated as the project has been, it’s been talked about as imminently happening for years, and we all could have better prepared ourselves. Two, downtown is far from dead: Walk on any street that’s only indirectly affected by the digging (King George, Ben Yehuda, Bezalel, Hillel), and you’ll see a vibrant scene with healthy circulation. And three, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs: In seven or so years from now, when the central Jerusalem facelift is complete and the Bridge of Strings actually carries vehicles on a regular basis, the hope is that we’ll all agree that what we dealt with back in 2008 was well worth it.

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