A growing number of minivans have been plying the streets of the greater Tel Aviv metro area on the past few Saturdays, providing public transportation on the Jewish Sabbath. The initiative was launched last month by the municipalities of Tel Aviv and the neighboring towns of Givatayim, Ramat Hasharon and Kiryat Ono. The initiative was titled “Naim Besofash” (“Moving pleasantly on the weekends’"). This ride service operates for 25 hours, from the start of the Sabbath on Friday at sunset to the time it ends the following day. It runs along six routes, with 526 stops. The municipalities are bypassing the law requiring a special license to operate paid public transportation on the Sabbath by offering the service for free, funding it with their own budgets.
Already on its inaugural Sabbath, on Nov. 22, the service generated surprising demand, requiring the municipalities to beef up the service with additional 20-seat minivans on the following weekends. “We have over 12,000 rides on the weekends,” said Meital Lehavi, who holds the transportation portfolio on the Tel Aviv City Council. She told Al-Monitor, “We have had to boost service to meet growing demand, which illustrates the tremendous vacuum that exists in terms of public transportation on the weekend.” In fact, only Israelis who own a car or can afford taxi service can take advantage of their weekly day off.
