Web site offers all nationwide bus, train info

Transportation Ministry announces launch of initiative.

By RON FRIEDMAN
yisrael katz 248 88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
yisrael katz 248 88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The Transportation Ministry announced on Sunday that it was launching a Web site featuring nationwide information on public transportation.
The initiative is part of an effort to create a national public transportation information center, providing details on all the bus and train routes across the country.
The Web site will allow people to get information on any bus or train route in the country, including station locations, routes, schedules, ticket prices and route alterations.
The site (www.bus.gov.il) will be on line starting on Monday and will have information from every public transportation operator in the country.
The Web site will also enable users to determine the quickest route to any destination, and to choose whether they wish to incorporate travel by train. All users have to do is indicate a point of departure and a destination and the Web site will offer a variety of options based on parameters like length of journey, name of operator, number of transfers, travel time and cost.
The new site will have a feedback section where users can leave comments on their travel experiences, submit complaints about operators, suggest improvements or ask questions. People will be able to rank their travel experience and the level of satisfaction from the service.
For the time being the Web site is only in Hebrew, but according to the ministry spokesman, it will soon be available in Arabic, English and Russian.
Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said that in the coming days the ministry would also inaugurate a call center providing all the information on the Web site by telephone or text message. The national information center is part of a series of steps to get more people to use public transportation instead of their private vehicles, Katz said.