Notification to passengers about the charge to validate in the app only next to the driver (Photo: Walla! system, screenshot)
Following an increase in the use of payment applications in public transportation at the expense of the Rav Kav card, Egged is changing the method of validation on intercity buses. The company will remove the QR code stickers from the back of buses, leaving them only near the driver and outside the bus. On intercity buses, clothing for the urban, in advance there are no validators that allow the transfer of a Rav-Kav card even near the back doors.
The goal: In recent months, Egged and the Public Transportation Authority at the Ministry of Transport have identified an increase in the number of passengers using buses without paying. Nir Landau, Deputy Director General of Administration at Egged, estimates that the average non-validation rate is about 20%: one in five passengers does not pay for their trip.
"The money we collect from passengers does not go directly into Egged's pocket, but is transferred to the Ministry of Transport," Landau says. "Beyond the fact that it's not fair to honest passengers who do pay, it's money that doesn't go back to the system, and then it lacks for additional routes and trips. In the city it's easier to use inspectors who get on and off the many buses, on intercity routes it's more complicated, so we're trying a different method. The transition to validation through the apps has increased non-payment, and together with the Public Transport Authority, we are trying to stop it."
Rav Kav card. Since Merav Michaeli's tariff reform, there has been an increase in payment in apps on the card bill (Photo: official website, -)
It should be noted that although public transport companies receive most of the payment from the state according to the mileage performed by their buses, they also have passenger volume targets, and a number of inspector inspections that they have to perform. "I'd like the inspectors to get on the bus and deal with the 2% who don't pay, but the number is now ten times higher. As long as the state has decided that public transportation is free of charge, this money should be collected," Landau says.
The concern is that paving passengers to attack next to the driver will lead to a slowdown in the rate at which they board the bus, and delay the buses at the stations. Landau: "On Fridays I continue to work as a driver on intercity lines, and can report firsthand that on most intercity lines there are few passengers at a time, but that there will be no such delay."
At the same time, Egged will conduct a pilot on one of the urban routes in the north, in which it will add more code stickers to its buses, in order to examine whether increasing the number of payment options reduces the phenomenon of non-validation. "Most people are normative, and will pay for the trip as soon as we help them on the one hand, and deter them from paying on the other," Landau says.
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Egged bus. The state is already subsidizing the city for the cost of operating public transport (Photo: PR)
Max Murugowski, chairman of the "Transportation Our Way" association, said in response that "it is doubtful whether Egged's decision to limit validation options will actually lead to an increase in validations. On the other hand, it may prolong travel time and turn drivers into inspectors again against their will. In our opinion, facilitating validation by sticking stickers on the back of the seat on intercity buses as well, with appropriate writing encouraging validation and explaining its importance will achieve a better result in the long run, make intercity trips faster and smoother and will not harm the welcome trend of taking overtaking tasks off the driver so that he can concentrate on driving alone."
Today, the state subsidizes the operation of public transportation by about NIS 10 billion a year, and passengers pay a little over NIS 3 billion a year for the rides. Eliminating the payment will require the state to raise the money from other sources, or to reduce the number and frequency of bus routes.
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