Israel's newly appointed Transportation Minister, Labor leader Merav Michaeli, revealed a five-point outline of her plans for the position in an interview with N12 on Friday evening. The plans include the initiation of public transportation on Saturdays, direct flights to the Egyptian cities of Cairo and Sharm El Sheikh and an expansion of budgetary funds dedicated to public transportation.
Michaeli plans on moving additional funds within the ministry to the public transportation system to, among other goals, increase the amount of dedicated lanes for public transportation and the frequency of bus arrivals.
The proposed budgetary increase also includes a doubling of the budget for public transportation in Israel's Arab sector.
In order to evade religious opposition for the issue, Michaeli plans on transferring certain authorities to local councils, which would allow municipalities to individually conclude whether they would prefer to run public transportation services during Shabbat.
The N12 report claimed this move was expected to face opposition within the new government.
According to the report, Michaeli aspires to increase the coordination between real estate and public transportation planning by increasing the presence of Transportation Ministry representatives at the Planning Committee.
Michaeli also plans on strengthening the Israeli alliances with Egypt and Jordan, with the first step towards this goal being a plan to begin making direct flights to the Egyptian cities of Cairo and Sharm El Sheikh.
Israir and Arkia airlines are both expected to receive security clearance to begin direct flights within two months, according to Michaeli's plan, which the N12 report claimed in this case "looks a bit ambitious at the moment."
The final point of her 5-point plan included appointing a ministry supervisor for pedestrians, with the goal of increasing pedestrians accessibility and safety.
In her first speech as in the new role on Sunday, Michaeli emphasized the need for additional infrastructure for electric cars and said she agreed with her predecessor in the role, Likud MK Miri Regev, on the matter of a need to build a new international airport in the southern Israeli city of Nevatim.
As for issues which she claimed were important to her in the role, Michaeli mentioned the needs to work closely with the Environmental Protection Ministry, to find ways to make women and men feel safe from harassment on public transportation and to improve the terms of employment for ministry employees.