Starting on Monday, Israeli citizens will notice a slight increase in the prices of various public transportation networks – about 5% on average, on all bus and rail lines (including light rails). Most prices will rise between half a Shekel and 3 NIS, in accordance with the progressive price distribution according to the distance of the trip, in accordance with the reforms carried out by the Ministry of Transport in recent years.
Light rail prices were expected to increase significantly, but this increase was postponed until next year. At the same time, taxi fares – see negligible rises for intra-city travel, along with very significant increases in the intercity travel (in journeys of more than 20 km, the fare increases by more than 20%).
July 1 is the fixed date for adjusting the price of the public transportation in Israel in accordance with changes in the indices and needs. Why is this rise coming now? Well, this has to do with two main factors:
First of all, this was a relatively predictable increase – when last year the Minister of Transportation Regev postponed to this year most of the price increases requested from her office in accordance with the economic circumstances.
Secondly, Minister Regev’s “Transportation Justice” Reform – a reform that greatly lowered the public transportation price rates for certain populations, including veterans, residents of the periphery, students, disabled people, and more. Discounts in the rate of one factor will necessarily come at the expense of an increase in the rate of another party (since the Israeli public transport system is not connected to the taxation system or the economic needs of the state, but rather to an internal system of the Ministry of Transportation and the operating costs of the system).
