Just the ticket?

Soon the new Rav-Kav smartcard will replace all other tickets and plans on Jerusalem's public transportation

By SYBIL EHRLICH
Rav Kav smartcard (photo credit: Sybil Ehrlich)
Rav Kav smartcard
(photo credit: Sybil Ehrlich)
The Egged bus company is replacing the traditional cardboard multiride and hofshi hodshi (monthly unlimited) tickets with Rav-Kav smartcards in the Jerusalem area.
Smartcards of this type are now in use in cities around the world. Anyone who has been in London in the last few years will probably be familiar with the Oyster card, which works on the same principle.
Rav-Kav cards were introduced in Beit Shemesh in January 2009, when Superbus took over the bus service in the Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem corridor area, and in greater Tel Aviv last month. Eventually they will cover all public transport in the country, including Israel Railways.
The card is loaded with a “plan” such as monthly unlimited, or 10 local rides, or a transfer ticket. Cards can be loaded by credit card in a machine at a lightrail station, or on a bus. In the latter case, the card owner hands the card and the appropriate sum of money – cash only – to the bus driver, who then passes it through a machine to load the chosen plan onto the card. Thereafter, each time the passenger boards a bus, or a light-rail train, he puts his card on the computerized reader inside the vehicle, which will “see” that he has a monthly unlimited plan, or, if appropriate, will deduct the sum of money for that ride and issue a printout showing how many rides are left.
Anyone who already has a Rav-Kav (Superbus or other) card does not need to get another one for use in Jerusalem. The same card is used for both, and all the holder needs to do is reload the card with the appropriate amount of money. Superbus monthly unlimited tickets from Beit Shemesh include a free monthly unlimited Egged ticket for use within Jerusalem – and will also include the light rail – so holders of these tickets do not need to do anything at all.
Of course it will be possible to use the buses and light rail without a Rav-Kav card, paying cash to the driver each time, but discounts for youth, pensioners and other concessions, as well as monthly unlimited and transfer tickets, will not be given without the card.
With the exception of “anonymous” cards, the Rav- Kav bears the owner’s name and photograph, and can be used by that person only.
Anonymous cards can be shared by several people – two or more traveling together, or different people at different times, like the old multiride punch cards – but only for standard or youth fares, not for seniors or other concessions. Monthly unlimited plans cannot be shared.
More than one plan can be on a card simultaneously.
As an example, I commute daily by bus from my home in Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem, and have a monthly unlimited Superbus Rav-Kav plan for that route. A few weeks ago, when I went to see the new bus system in Tel Aviv, I loaded an all-day ticket for the greater Tel Aviv area – covering Egged, Dan and Kavim in Tel Aviv – onto the same card, by giving the driver of the first bus I boarded in Tel Aviv the appropriate sum of money, which he loaded on my card. The computerized card readers on the buses in Tel Aviv were able to read that I had a day ticket for that date, and anything additional on the Rav-Kav was irrelevant.
A person whose status (youth, standard, senior) changes after the card is issued should get his “profile” changed at one of the distribution points by showing proof of age. Thus a person who reaches the age of entitlement to senior (vatik) discount – 60 for women and 65 for men – can get his standard card updated accordingly and there will be no necessity to show proof of age each time he wants to load the card at the senior rate.
Cards are issued free at these locations around Jerusalem: • The central bus station, opposite platform 22 (Sun.-Thurs. 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fri. 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.) • The Rav-Shefa mall on Shamgar Street (Sun.- Thurs. 2 to 9 p.m.) • The Ramot community center on Sulam Ya’acov Street (Sun.-Thurs. 1 to 8 p.m.) • The Egged terminal in Givat Masua (Sun.-Thurs. 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Fri. 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.) •