Minister of Transportation Miri Regev presents the plan to change public transportation rates.
Opponents of the government should also applaud (photo: official website, Ministry of Transport)
Applause for Miri Regev, this time without a hint of cynicism.
Well done for the speed and determination.
The Minister of Transportation, who entered her second term in office and knows the ministry in depth, began her term by repairing the destruction left behind by the previous Minister of Transportation Merav Michaeli, holder of the dubious title, "the worst Minister of Transportation in Israel's history."
Regev chose to start repairing the damage by canceling one of Michaeli's most puzzling moves, the "equal road" reform in public transportation, which had no equality, but mainly injustice and severe discrimination of the residents of the periphery and harm to the weakest populations.
In a government that erases every trace of the government that preceded it and its reforms are prepared at the speed of a hot dish, one should - along with the criticism - also mention positively the "transportation justice" social reform that was presented yesterday by Miri Regev, who has right-wing views, when on the face of it this reform should have been the flag of Yu" R. The Social Democratic Labor Party, which decided, for some reason, to screw the needy.
The previous Minister of Transportation, Merav Michaeli.
Also in the Ministry of Transportation, the chairman of the "Labor Party" mainly represented the rich from the central region (Photo: Reuven Castro)
It is doubtful whether the person who invented "Derech Shaveh" ever traveled by bus
An "equal road" was supposed to flatten the curve and stop the differential payment in public transportation, as if the State of Israel is one part of the upper deciles, all residents of the center who are too lazy to start the car.
It established uniform fares without discounts and dependent on distance, canceled the charging of large sums in many lines for benefits, granted a 50% discount to teenagers, those with disabilities and those entitled to social security when buying free-new, and granted free travel on public transportation only to those 75 and older.
Thus, the residents of the periphery, some of them hard-working, who until it came into force last August, paid NIS 2.3 per trip on public transportation, were forced to pay NIS 5.5 per trip, a 130% price increase per month, and buy a free monthly pass at a cost of NIS 99, even if they only had to travel a few trips .
This plan, which it is doubtful that the person who put it together had ever traveled by public transport, and was offered to all transport ministers before Michaeli - and rejected outright, should not have gone out to the world even during her shift.
The opacity reached its peak, when in the discussions in the economy committee, led by the chairman, MK Michael Biton, who vigorously opposed it, he was told by the representatives of the Ministry of Transportation, that "in total, it is an increase of a few shekels".
In the days of rampant inflation and rising interest rates, there are people for whom these "few shekels" can mean the difference between meat twice a week and just once.
you know what?
Leave meat - another cottage trophy.
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Regev and the Nazis - reverse, shoot, reverse - only if you complete the new prices also in prioritizing public transportation, you will succeed in the mission (Photo: Reuven Castro, Ministry of Transportation)
As mentioned, Regev made a sharp and swift move and its reform, for which no budgetary source has yet been found, but which has the support of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the current Chairman of the Economic Committee, David Bitan, is to be included in the Settlements Law - to the dismay of the people of the Ministry of Finance (who were not involved (in its preparation and are briefing against it with all its might).
"Zedek Transporti" intends to bring back the "accumulated value assumption", that is, the possibility to charge large amounts on multiple lines and get more trips, and giving a discount of 33% of its price to teenagers, students and young people up to the age of 26. Senior citizens will travel for free - women from the age of 62, men from the age of 67, and citizens in the Negev, Galilee, Golan and Yosh regions, and citizens in socio-economic clusters 1 - 5 will receive a 50% discount.
Those entitled to the National Insurance and the disabled will also receive a similar discount when purchasing a monthly pass.
It could be that Regev, who knows a thing or two about media and populism, handed out headlines without cover and with a nod to base, but nowadays, when extreme scenarios become a reality, one can only hope that such a sensible move will find the money.
But - and here it comes in a big way: if the Minister of Transportation really wants to do justice to the citizens, she cannot be satisfied with returning public transportation prices to sanity.
She must act with the same speed to make the availability and frequency of buses and trains more frequent and better, to make it more efficient and also to open more bus stops and not eliminate them, in order to release the traffic jams. If that happens, we can all applaud her.
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Miri Regev
Marev Michaeli
Public Transport
