In at the back door

Entering buses at all doors, not only at the front, will speed up boarding and improve the efficiency of public transport.

By SYBIL EHRLICH
Passengers enter a bus at one of the back doors, helping to speed it on its way (photo credit: SYBIL EHRLICH)
Passengers enter a bus at one of the back doors, helping to speed it on its way
(photo credit: SYBIL EHRLICH)
On some bus routes in Jerusalem passengers are now able to board buses at all doors, placing their Rav-Kav smartcards on a validator inside the door.
Entering buses at all doors, not only at the front, will speed up boarding and improve the efficiency of public transport, according to Meir Chen, the director of the National Public Transportation Authority in the Transportation Ministry. He said that by the end of the year it is hoped that 1,000 buses throughout the country will be using the new system.
Jerusalem deputy mayor Tamir Nir, who holds the transportation portfolio at the municipality, said, “I believe that this will significantly improve service and travel times and make things easier for passengers. We will continue to make public transportation more efficient and smarter.” He added that there is a plan to introduce bicycle rentals in Jerusalem within the next few months, so it will be possible to rent a bike at one end of the journey, return it at a bus stop, continue one’s journey by bus and then rent another bike at the other end.
The routes that have so far been converted to the new system are 19, 20, 24, 27, 29, 59, 68, 69, 71, 72, 74, 75, 77 and 78. Eventually the system will operate on all city buses.
This system has been in operation on a limited number of routes in Tel Aviv, and is being extended to other routes in the Gush Dan area.
Each of the new buses – which are prominently marked on the outside as being accessible by all the doors – has a validator inside each door. To use the validator, the card owner presses a key to select the number of passengers, then places the Rav-Kav on the reader.
The validator automatically registers the number of “rides” to be deducted, where appropriate, or that the Rav-Kav is loaded with a daily, weekly or monthly unlimited ticket.
Asked about security, since drivers will not be able to see who is getting on the bus at the back, Shmuel Elgrabli, the spokesman of the Jerusalem Transportation Master Plan, said security is in the hands of the police, and Egged has no worries on that score.
It seems it will take some time for the public to become accustomed to the idea of boarding buses at the back. Earlier this week it was amusing to see people running the entire length of a clearly marked “all doors” bus to be able to get on at the front.


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