Israel's health orders that demand social distancing to be maintained in public transport, on Sunday morning caused thousands of Israelis to wait for hours in overcrowded bus stations in order to get to places of work and army bases, as the country eases coronavirus restrictions.
According to the Health Ministry directives, each bus is allowed to carry half the passengers it normally accommodates, in an effort to maintain guidelines meant to curb the spread of COVID-19. The government, however, did not restart railway services, causing further overcrowding at bus stations across the country.
Jammed bus stations across Israel on Sunday
(צילום: סוף פטישי, שירלי כליפה)
This resulted in many passengers not being able to board their respective busses, staying behind to wait for the next bus to arrive, leading many to getting stuck inside cramped bus stations for hours.
"Although they [the government] brought us back to work, they did not reopen the railway,” said Suf, who waited to get on the 480 bus from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. “I got in half an hour early to be the first in line, but it wasn’t early enough. When I got to the central station, I saw a line of people that almost caused me to call in sick and go home.”
Tamir, who also arrived at Jerusalem’s bus station early in the morning, said he managed to board a bus to Be’er Sheva after almost an hour in line. "I don't understand the purpose of the limited seating rule, because when you wait in line there is no social distancing and the risk of infection is much higher,” he said. “They just wasted people’s time and sent away half-empty buses."
“I’ve been waiting in line for an hour and a half to get on a bus to Tel Aviv,” said Alki Kerem, who waited to board the bus at a bus station in Haifa in northern Israel. “I work in Ramat Gan and I began making these difficult trips two weeks ago.”
"The fact that there is no bus service on Saturday evening greatly increases the difficulty of navigating commuters - especially soldiers and security personnel - and causes everyone to arrive on Sunday morning, which adds to the burden of morning traffic," said Egged, Israel’s largest transit company, in a statement.
The company said it has added another 150 additional busses to the rotation for Sunday morning.