A Sneak Peek at the Future of Jerusalem Mass Transit

November 28, 2008 - 12:11 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Politics 
Jerusalem Light Rail
Stepping into one of the sleek and shiny new light rail vehicles set to zip through Jerusalem in the next year and a half, it’s hard to imagine the controversy the system’s roll out has engendered.

CityPass, the international corporation that is building and operating the Jerusalem light rail system, recently opened the doors to its hi-tech transit depot and we joined the tour. We learned more than we wanted to know about the facility’s electricity system and the minutiae of how the maintenance staff cleans dusty wheels.

The highlight for us, though, was getting a chance to wander through the train cars themselves. Despite seats still wrapped in plastic, the enormous vehicles – five times the size of a normal bus – were immensely impressive and a stark contrast with the desert landscape around them (the depot is located just west of the northern Jerusalem satellite community of Pisgat Ze’ev).

Each car consists of five articulated sections and can seat 64 (with a total capacity of 250). There are LCD screens to announce stops and magnetic card readers throughout. 24 cars out of a total of 46 have already been delivered so far.

The Jerusalem light rail has a few features not found in other locations, like France and Spain, where CityPass is operating. The vehicles have to contend with Jerusalem’s notorious hilly terrain. And all the windows have been reinforced to be resistant to stones and Molotov cocktails. A controversial security decision has meant that the light rail travels through the Arab neighborhood of Shuafat…but makes no stops.

Nevertheless, visiting the depot and seeing the cars all in one place gives one the feeling of being in a sci-fi flick: could these state-of-the-art contraptions ever roll through the historic but out of fashion center that represents Israel’s capital?

But that’s just the point.

Jerusalem used to have a more vibrant downtown. But in recent years, many of its more upscale shops have relocated to the Malcha Mall and tourists now flock to the Emek Refaim area. Much of the town center has been reduced to a sad medley of hole-in-the-wall shops selling cheap shmatas and rowdy teenagers who haunt the night hours.

That’s why I’m so enthusiastic about the light rail. Upon its completion, Jaffa Road will turn into a pedestrian-only walkway with the new fangled trolleys running down its center.

Freed from the narrow sidewalks and never-ending traffic, the street will experience a resurgence. Already you can see a row of new cafes in the space of a few blocks, flanked by my favorite The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (the only branch in Jerusalem). A European-style walker-friendly promenade is just the ticket for revitalizing Jerusalem’s core.

Getting there may not be so easy.

Jaffa Road is in the process of being dug up. Large swaths are currently blocked off entirely. Buses have been diverted to adjacent Nevi’im Street which is much too congested to handle the flow. Construction has been painfully slow, leading mayor-elect Nir Barkat to call for the entire project to be stopped and be replaced by high-speed buses.

I’ve already lived through this once. When I was growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, the City’s main artery, Market Street, was dug up for nearly a decade during the building of the BART subway. Businesses folded and Market Street was off-limits for private cars and buses alike.

Eventually, construction was completed and the street now boasts a range of trendy shopping and entertainment facilities. The subway brings in visitors from all over the Bay Area, conveniently and quickly. No one discounts BART’s effectiveness today.

The same will undoubtedly be true for Jerusalem.

A project as grand and complex as Jerusalem’s light rail system has never been attempted before in Israel (the high speed train between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv may eventually top it, if it doesn’t get derailed for the umpteenth time). After a peek at the vehicles that will, hopefully no later than 2010, rattle through town, I remain an enthusiastic supporter.

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“Israel Stops”

November 26, 2008 - 1:42 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General 

Yesterday (November 25) was “Israel Stops” day – a day dedicated to promoting road safety in Israel. It was the culmination of a month-long ad campaign, in which several well-known media personalities (including one guy known for his promoting a traffic safety system) urged Israelis to take it easy on the road. At 7:30 PM, there was a “moment of silence to commemorate victims of the tragedies on the road,” followed by a concert in Tel Aviv, starring pop singer David Broza.

The event was sponsored not by the Transportation Ministry or police, but by a private group called “Or Yarok” (Green Light), which works to raise consciousnesssafety1125.jpg among drivers to develop safe driving habits. Prior to the concert, Or Yarok outfitted the Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv with 11,000 paper doll cutouts, stand-ins for the 30,000 Israelis who have been killed in road accidents since the state’s creation.

Things have been getting better on the road safety front, Or Yarok says, thanks to new, modern highways, like Road 6 (“Cross-Israel Highway”), and new road infrastructure projects in the center of the country. Israel Radio reports most accidents on Israel’s roads, and the majority are not on the nice, new roads around Tel Aviv, but in outlying areas in the Galilee and Negev. There, narrow two lane roads without streetlights are the norm, and drivers in a hurry are tempted to take foolish risks, passing slower cars ahead of them in the oncoming traffic lane. Sometimes drivers calculate wrong and aren’t able to get back into their lane in time – and that’s when you hear about the accidents where drivers and passengers are injured, or worse. Add to that the usual percentage of bad drivers, like drunk kids and sleepy truck drivers, and you have a recipe for road tragedy – which is why, unfortunately, we need events “Israel Stops,” and visual reminders of all we have lost (like in the photo).

The most dangerous roads, based on accident statistics, really are country roads that have become inundated with drivers, due to the expansion of Israel’s population. Part of the latest economic rescue program (yep, Israel has them too!) includes billions of shekels to upgrade road infrastructure, which will presumably include some of these unsafe roads. Meanwhile, there are systems like this one, which help keep drivers on track with hi-tech sensors and wi-fi alerts. What if the government were to give a tax credit to everyone who installed a system like this in their car? Any Knesset members out there reading this blog?

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