In a demonstration against the lack of public transportation on Shabbat, Meretz
will run three free “Shabbat buses” in the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv regions on
Friday night that will bring people to major entertainment spots in the
cities.
The buses will travel under the banner “Good for the environment,
good for society, and good for you,” and the Meretz slogan “Your voice is
definitely against Bibi [Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu].”
“Israel is
in a transportation collapse,” MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) said in a statement
released by the party ahead of the event. “The only solution is good and
efficient public transportation, but that can’t be a system that stops every
weekend because of religious coercion.
“Meretz is leading the fight for
public transportation all week long – this is the right thing to do in terms of
the society, the economy, and the environment,” said Horowitz. “No one is
forcing the haredim to travel on Saturdays, so why are the haredim keeping me
from freedom of movement?” Horowitz added that the Transportation Ministry’s
decision not to run Egged buses on Shabbat is based on a “status quo” agreement
that is decades outdated.
Haredi city council members and MKs are
vehemently opposed to public transportation on Shabbat. The Transportation
Ministry has acquiesced to this demand and only non-public companies, such as
Dan and Veolia, run on Shabbat.
There are some exceptions for intercity
Egged buses in the country’s North.
Three separate buses will run on
Friday night in Jerusalem, the Sharon region, and Tel Aviv. On previous
occasions, Meretz has brought its Shabbat bus to other major cities across the
country including Kfar Saba, Holon, Herzliya and Hod Hasharon to rally for more
public transportation options on Shabbat.