Starting Friday, the Superbus bus company will be operating buses alongside Egged in the center of Jerusalem in an attempt to upgrade public transportation services, the Transportation Ministry said in a press release this week.
Superbus will be adding 22 bus lines, including through various neighborhoods, and more direct lines to industrial zones and busy areas, it said.
The upgrade will include doubling the mileage of buses, raising the frequency of popular lines and lengthening working hours. Long and tedious lines will be shortened, and developing neighborhoods will be given more attention.
Among the new lines are ones between the Jerusalem Municipality and the Jewish Quarter in the Old City, direct lines to the bus and train stations, the Givat Shaul and Har Hotzvim industrial zones and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem campuses. Service in developing neighborhoods, including East Talpiot, Gilo, Homat Shmuel and the southwest of the city, will be significantly expanded. Additionally, new night lines will be initiated, and their activity will be lengthened to include the middle of the week.
The new lines will be added gradually and will be integrated by 2023. Within the next two years, the frequency of public transportation is expected to rise 40%.
About 382 buses will be added to enable the 22 new lines. They will include 95 electric buses and about 50 natural-gas ones, which will lower pollution and noise levels. They will include Wi-Fi and USB ports for charging phones, the press release said.
The Transportation Ministry will also work to improve bus stops, including adding “next bus” signs, which will supply passengers with accurate real-time information.
The first stage will begin on Friday, when Superbus will take on four existing lines and add the No. 2 line. The new line will be a series of minibuses that will begin in the Karta parking lot and go through the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall to various tourist locations in the Old City every 15 minutes.
The line will run from 5:30 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to midnight on Friday and from an hour after Shabbat until 12:45 a.m. on Saturday night.
The second stage, including 22 new lines and night lines, will be enacted in October.
“It’s time to get out of the slump we are in and ease the lives of the residents of Jerusalem and its visitors,” Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli (Labor) said.
Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion said: “The integration of Superbus in Jerusalem is made possible thanks to the many changes that are happening these days in the transportation system.”
Superbus chairman Eli Blilious said integrating Superbus means that passengers can expect to “enjoy an accessible, quiet and clean transportation experience.”