Israel – 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.
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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].”
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“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Ministry’s decision not to run Egged buses on Shabbat is based on a “status quo” agreement that is decades outdated.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.
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
Residents of EY should be able to make their own choices about travel on shabbos. There are many options for structuring a viable public transit alternative that would not require frum busdrivers to work on shabbos if they prefer not to. Recent polls show over 70 percent of the population rejects this coercion from the religious parties, including many who themselves would not ride on shabbos. We should struggle to make shabbos more attractive to frei yidden rather than trying to force them to be shomer shabbos against their will.
If its free and they use Arab drivers , I rather that then the chilonim drive
Time to move out of this country. It’s becoming a dangerous place to live from all kinds of people who are causing it’s slow slide to destruction.
Respect wouldn’t hurt Meretz. This is so not necessary.
The land will spit us out…again.