Over the last few days, at least three mayors have announced that they are joining an initiative led by Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, and that they will begin operating public transportation on the Sabbath. Ramat Gan, Ramat Hasharon and Givatayim, all bordering Tel Aviv, decided that they will join the initiative that would link their cities also on Saturdays. At the same time, other mayors have noted that they are also considering it. This kind of public awakening is very moving. In the absence of a functioning national government, local politicians are showing courage by taking the initiative and doing what should have been done years ago.

This municipal transportation initiative by Huldai — one of the most revolutionary mayors Israel has ever seen — is changing the agenda on the largest scale imaginable. It should provide for the needs of a large sector of the population, after decades in which efforts to help them were blocked, all in the name of the status quo and as a result of the enormous political power wielded by the ultra-Orthodox parties in the Knesset and city councils.

This is unlike other initiatives attempted last year in Tiberias and Ramat Gan, where mayors introduced limited public transportation on the Sabbath, in most cases to the beach and other recreational centers. This time, the change involves an entire network of buses, which, according to the plan, will run on all the major thoroughfares at high frequency. The plan calls for five bus lines in Tel Aviv, which will run every 20 minutes from all the major stops. As aforementioned, more recently, Tel Aviv also approached neighboring cities and offered them a chance to join the initiative and increase the buses range, in order to turn this local initiative into a regional transportation system. The service, which will begin operating in January 2020, will be funded by the municipality and offered to residents free of charge.

In practical terms, this is a real revolution. It will allow tens of thousands of people to benefit from a basic service, which they should have been able to take for granted. Public transportation is not some luxury; it is simply providing people without a car of their own the opportunity of getting around from one place to another. It offers them an opportunity to visit loved ones in the hospital or simply to do their shopping. The social component is obvious; by allowing mobility for people without cars, the initiative reduces gaps between different sectors of the population.