Israeli Transportation

Many people fear Israeli transport due to the terrorist attacks in previous years. For volunteers such as myself buses, trains, and taxis are truly the only way to get around the country. I can say with certainty that each Otzmanikim has had at least one odd, if not extremely frustrating, experience while traveling through the country. I have become more confident with the process of inter and intracity travel but still experience a hiccup now and then.



One of my best friends from the States was visiting Israel for two weeks earlier this month. Her family lives in Haifa which is a pretty far from the Negev region. Being the more experienced traveler, I made the trek up North and back to the Soth over the span of 4 days. Let me sum up my return journey…Train from Haifa to Beer Sheva…Got off at the wrong station…Taxi to the correct station…Sheruit (shared taxi) to Netivot…Sheruit got pulled over for a seatbelt check…Arrive in Netivot 15 minutes before beginning my 8hr shift of volunteering after traveling for over 4 hours.



I think sheruits may be the issue. Most times they don’t leave the station unless they are full. I have spent up to 40 minutes waiting for the sheruit to fill up. In addition, they can stop on a highway make you get off and get into another sheruit. This can happen two or three times throughout your journey. The one benefit of this mode of transporation: if you are the last person in the sheruit and you don’t get stuck on the side of the ride, your total journey time can be cut in HALF! My word of advice on Israeli transportion: always leave extra time and if you are late, don’t worry because so is the rest of the country.