Noa Tanoa activists, who started the Shabbat bus revolution in the authorities.
In the center: Noam Tel-Vard/Noa Tanoa
In the local elections, there are few issues that we as residents have the ability to have a significant and immediate influence on as much as transportation on Shabbat.
Issues in burning areas such as security, health and the economy that worry us all, are often managed at the national level and therefore voting in the local elections has a very limited effect on them.
However, one critical, albeit unexpected, issue remains within their control: they can choose to run transportation on weekends.
When they do this, they will join the Shabbat transportation network operated by the progressive municipalities in Israel and provide a required service to the residents that will become an infrastructure for economic and social prosperity.
It may sound too good to be true, but it is.
If someone had told me in 2015, when we founded Noa Tanoa - transportation on Shabbat, that municipalities would be the key to solving the problem of public transportation on Shabbat, I would have laughed in his face.
Since then, we have been able to work with dozens of municipalities on planning and operating bus networks on Shabbat that serve approximately 50,000 passengers every weekend, to establish the infrastructure that allows the initiative to grow and to promote national solutions on the issue so that each and every one can choose how to spend the Shabbat in their own way.
A bus of "Naim on the weekend" of the local authorities in the center/image processing, Tel Aviv Municipality, PR
All of these were made possible thanks to cooperation with mayors who realized that they had the power and the opportunity to create change for their residents.
A change that is both just and fair to the entire population - after all, those who wish to use transportation will do so, and those who don't will give it up - and also forms a basis for strengthening the economy and community resilience.
And it was a net profit for the residents of Givatayim, Hod Hasharon, Herzliya, Kfar Saba, Mevsaret Zion, Modi'in-Maccabim-Reot, Mate Yehuda, Abu Gush, Nes Ziona, Kiryat Ono, Ramat Gan, Ramat Hasharon, Shoham and Tel Aviv-Yafo.
In this sense, urban investment in transportation on Shabbat is not only related to convenience, but to building vibrant, economically sound and egalitarian cities.
First and foremost, this is a smart economic strategy.
Transportation on Shabbat is a cost-effective solution for urban mobility that yields a significant return on investment: every shekel invested in public transportation generates economic activity, from creating jobs to increasing accessibility to businesses.
By attracting businesses, residents and tourists alike, cities with reliable 24/7 public transportation systems thrive economically—and their residents can reap the rewards.
Beyond that, local transportation on Shabbat is also important at the national level - the lack of transportation on Shabbat and holidays, which make up about a fifth of the days of the year, is the weakest link in the public transportation system in Israel.
Without it, a large part of the population is required to own a private car in order to move around freely.
As a result, the load on the roads increases every day of the week, and we all suffer more from traffic jams whose cost to the economy is estimated at tens of billions per year, from air pollution and road accidents.
However, operating transportation on Shabbat can change all of this - it will allow a part of the population to give up a private car, and certainly a second or third car at home.
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Second, transportation on Shabbat guarantees equal access to all types of essential services, such as hospitals, and cultural and leisure activities, such as museums or cafes.
It allows everyone, regardless of socio-economic status or ability to own and drive a private vehicle, the right to move freely wherever they need and want all year round.
On the Noa Tanoa buses, I met quite a few stories like this: a single mother of small children who couldn't afford to order a taxi to spend time with the children, a doctor who returned from a 26-hour shift at the hospital and didn't want to drive home in a daze, a soldier who was assigned to a shift at the base and didn't have a car Available for travel, a visually impaired student who can't drive but doesn't want to be dependent on parents at age 32 and a retiree who wanted to spend Shabbat with friends at the museum but can't afford private transportation.
And mainly it is a reminder to the mayors and local councils.
Despite the insistence of the Ministry of Transportation to keep the powers in its hands, and despite the political veto of Israeli governments for years on the operation of public transportation on Shabbat except for lines that operated since the days of the British, mayors are proving more and more that transportation on Shabbat is within their mandate.
In the end, there is no reason why the mayors should not be responsible for public transportation, just as they are responsible for education and sanitation, just as is customary abroad. Public transportation on Shabbat is an important step to direct the central government in this direction.
In the upcoming local elections, we have a crucial opportunity to shape the future of our cities Remember that the vote is on two ballots - and in both we have the opportunity to influence: voting with one ballot for the mayor or mayoress who is obligated to join the transportation network on Shabbat in Israel, and a second ballot for the list committed to transportation on Shabbat. Choosing each of them is not just a symbolic gesture - it is a practical decision to push the The city is forward, to develop the economy and to create equal opportunities for all
.
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Public transportation on Saturday