Coming2Israel.com - Public Transportation In Israel

 

Buses in Israel:

Where to start? Israel has an amazingly efficient, yet seemingly inefficient system of buses running throughout the country.   The good thing is that if there is somewhere that you wish to go to, there is more than likely a bus going there, or at least fairly close to there.  Depending on where you are, there are at least five different companies running buses in the country.  In Tel Aviv alone, there are three main bus companies with routes through the city and to the outlying areas. In fact, you could stand on a main street in Tel Aviv and in a matter of 10 to 15 minutes a different bus from each of the different companies will pass and even stop at the stop that you are waiting at.  Each one with its own route number and each one with its different or the same destination.   Yes, there is overlap in the route coverage by the different companies. So, we ask again, where to start?

Actually we’ll start with a brief primer for some terms used in Israeli busing: 

A bus stop is actually referred to as a station – “tachana”. So the place on the street corner, where you are standing waiting for the bus is actually a bus station. A main city bus station is called the Tachana Merkazit.  Each city usually has at least one central bus station – Tachana Merkazit. A “Minor” Bus Station - hub or terminal is referred as masof, pl. mesofim.  There is a Terminal in north Tel Aviv, close to the Port and HaYarkon park and the power station, called the Reading Terminal, or Masof Reading. A ticket is a Kartis - “Car-teece”.

Some other things you should know:

If we didn’t tell you already, you should know that the Jewish calendar is lunar based.  That is, next day starts in the evening of what would otherwise be the same day.  So, the Sabbath in Israel which is one day of the week, Yom Shabbat, starts Friday evening after the sun goes down and this lasts until the sun goes down in Saturday evening – Motze Shabbat.  All Jewish holidays start and stop in the same manner.  Why is this important to you? Because, with some exceptions, there is no bus service on the Sabbath, or on Jewish holidays (see our Coming2Israel.com Jewish Holiday Page). Buses stop running on Friday afternoons around 15:00 – 16:00. They do not start up again until after dark on Saturday evening.  This also applies to Jewish holidays – both religious and civic holidays.  So, if plan on going to Jerusalem on a Friday morning, be sure to know when your last bus leaves Jerusalem to where you came from.  Sherut buses will continue to run, but there are some small caveats with using the sherut bus. First, they run on limited routes. Secondly, if the sherut bus is not full, it probably won’t leave the station, unless the current passengers agree to pay the driver the difference for the missing passengers. In Haifa the buses do run on Saturdays and there are some night buses as well. Here are the same links that are available to you from our Getting Around Israel Page: Central Bus Stations In Israel Israel Bus Routes Israel Bus Companies and Their Websites Jerusalem Light Rail / City Pass Haifa Carmelit Funicular Subway

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