Bus - Loving Israel - Articles about Israel

When push comes to shove, nothing beats an Egged bus.

Yes, Israeli buses may evoke thoughts of terrorist incidents. However, that's only one side of the story.

In those incidents, everybody tries to help the casualties, whether they know what they are doing or not.

Those buses are a positive part of our daily way of life in many ways.

Did you ever watch a mother with a baby carriage? Others always help her get on and off the bus. True, that doesn't happen as frequently when a man is pushing that carriage.

Passengers allow blind people to sit in the front row. They don't have to be asked.

They offer their seat to the elderly or to mothers carrying children.

Those mothers may pass their fare from one person to another until it arrives at the driver, up front. Others may hold a baby while the mother goes up front to negotiate the fare, and then they may pass the baby along when the mother takes a front seat by the driver.

Hungry drivers may leave their bus to buy a nosh at a roadside stand. Nobody touches their property or money while they are gone.

A driver may disappear before beginning his route, leaving the bus door open. Sometimes people enter, and sometimes they don't, but, again, nobody touches the driver's property or money. When he returns, the driver doesn't even glance at it to be sure that it is still there. There's never a problem.

This behavior goes beyond good manners. It is a way of life. Perhaps if it would be considered good manners, then some people would make a point of not doing it.

Religious buses

You've had the opportunity to ride a bus. However, you are unlikely to have experienced the buses that cater to our growing religious population. The men sit in the front, and they enter and leave through the front door. The women sit in the back, and they enter and leave through the back door.

The women pay in the back, on the honor system. A conductor's punch is hanging by a string from a bar by the door. Women punch their way in by themselves. Perhaps the advent of smart cards will make this process easier, but that will remove the lovely, effective, and successful honor system.

Regular buses

People usually enter from the front door, but those with large packages or baby carriages come in through the back door. Sometimes, when it's crowded, they enter through the back door as well. They find their seat and then pass their ticket up to the front. Passengers cheerfully pass it along and then pass it back after the driver punches the ticket.

Those without exact change may pass a large bill forward to the driver, with instructions about how many people to charge. The message and the money are passed up to the driver. He then passes the change and the receipt to a nearby passenger, who passes it back. It makes its way, from one hand to the next, through the bus, until it reaches the comfortably-seated passenger in the back.

In other cases, the driver may get off the bus to get something to eat or to handle a problem with the bus. The passengers get on the bus before the bus driver returns, but they never touch the cash.

Nobody thinks about it. It's not politeness. It's just a way of life.

Where do you want to go now?