"Enough of the impossible reality of the Sunday morning public transportation" said Transport and Road Safety Minister Merav Michaeli in a debate on Monday.
The impossible reality of Sunday mornings is that it is then that many soldiers make their way to their bases for the week, which causes congestion for intercity transport. Added to that is the regular daily amount of people commuting to work.
As such, the Transport Ministry has initiated a solution in cooperation with the IDF.
"We all know there is major congestion on the roads and on public transport," said Michaeli. "The pictures of congestion on public transport on Sunday mornings are appalling and describe a reality in which everyone pays the price."
The solution offered is to turn the IDF into another public transport provider. Their buses will be used for the soldiers to get to base and back. This means that the space the soldiers take up in public transport will be cleared, as well as giving the soldiers better transport service on their way to and from base that will be more efficient and comfortable.
The Finance Ministry has made NIS 100 million available for the new system. "They also understand that we have to deal with this," said Michaeli.
"This project will release the congestion in the city centers and in the central bus stations, and is part of the effort to create a real-time transportation tracking and management infrastructure" said Michaeli.