This is according to a survey conducted by transportation students at the Technion in which they compared the habits of using public transportation in cities with similar characteristics in Israel and Sweden
A year ago, two Technion students decided to make Israel a better place. The two students, Bar Pincus and Bar Galbert, decided to do this as part of the mandatory project of the first degree, and start by flying to Sweden.
"We decided to take advantage of the civil engineering degree requirements to do an international project on public transportation, under the guidance of Prof. Yoram Shiptan, head of the transportation engineering track at the Technion Faculty of Civil Engineering." says Barr Pincus. "All the data show the importance of public transportation in the fight against air pollution, road accidents and social disparities. In order to understand how to improve public transportation in Israel, we decided to check what the differences are between Sweden and Israel in this respect."
Bar Pincus left the country in favor of snowy Sweden, for the cause of course, while Bar Galbert remained in dusty Israel. Both conducted surveys at the same time in one of the suburbs of Stockholm, and in one of the suburbs of Tel Aviv (Ra'anana).
After collecting data from the residents of the two cities and statistically analyzing the results, Pincus and Gilbert reached surprising results.
"74 percent of those surveyed in Stockholm owned a car, and at that time, 80 percent of them used to use public transportation every day." Galbert noted. "This figure pleasantly surprised us, because the situation in Israel is very different: in Ra'anana, only 27 percent of those surveyed frequently use public transportation, compared to eighty percent who own cars."
Ra'anana is in a good place compared to the rest of the country. The national use of public transportation is only 23 percent. We have reached this dismal situation, according to the researchers, due to the low reliability of public transportation, a limited range of operating hours, low frequency of lines and many other ills.
"All these diseases also exist in other countries and other cities in Europe, although they do not necessarily all appear together." Pincus says, adding, "But there is a unique factor in Israel that cannot be found in any other country: the Sabbath."
In clear and simple words: there is no public transportation on Shabbat in cities with a Jewish majority. Since the situation that exists today came from the status quo that the British governors in the region established, this means that we are still relying on censuses that are fifty years or so old.
"We wanted to know if it is possible that the restriction of public transportation to the middle of the week only, harms the use of public transportation in general." Pincus says. Why would the restriction on Shabbat also affect use in the middle of the week? Pincus has an answer, backed up by studies from other countries as well. "As soon as a person wants to travel on Thursday, for example, to visit his parents in the south but knows that he will not be able to return to his home at the weekend, he will prefer to use his private car for the purpose of the trip. That person will also buy a private car with the best of his money, and from the moment he buys it - he will also use it every day of the week."
In accordance with Pincus and Gelbert's expectation, the survey returned a clear answer: forty percent of the respondents in Stockholm stated that if there was no public transportation on the weekend, they would reduce the use of public transportation during the week as well. This result, which relies on statements only, is consistent with a study conducted in Australia in 2009. This study unequivocally showed that the availability of public transportation on the weekend and in the evenings also increases the use of public transportation in the middle of the week, probably due to the fact that citizens do not need a private car to the same extent.
And what about the situation in Ra'anana, where the use of public transportation is prohibited at the weekend? What will the good Jewish residents do if public transportation is allowed even on the weekend? Of those surveyed, twenty percent stated that they would use public transportation more in the middle of the week. What does twenty percent mean? Quite a big one, it turns out.
"According to the Trachtenberg report, switching from using private to public transportation will save the economy enormous sums: the taxpayer will save approximately NIS 400 million each year for each percentage of users who switch to public transportation." Pincus details. "And this without even mentioning the contribution to air quality, to the reduction of parking spaces in the big cities and the contribution to equal opportunities between different populations."
Will the residents of Ra'anana - and Israel in general - be interested in changing the existing situation? Probably so. The researchers tested the willingness of Ra'anana residents to make frequent use of public transportation on the weekend, and found that 56 percent of those surveyed stated that they would use public transportation on the weekend if it were available to them. Although this is a relatively small sample of seventy people, the information produced from the study is largely consistent with the known data on the populations from the Central Bureau of Statistics. The message, for the researchers, is that public transportation should not be a topic of discussion at all.
"Public transportation is a service that the state should provide, just like health, education and security. Public transportation must not be reserved only for the poor. A necessary condition for change is public transportation seven days a week." says Gilbert. "In the current situation, in which people declare that they are interested in public transportation on Shabbat, it is not clear why this is an issue that is so assigned in the Israeli discourse."
"Everyone knows that an army is needed. Everyone knows that a good education is needed. Similarly, everyone in Europe clearly needs a public transport service, seven days a week." Pincus says passionately. "This is the minimum requirement that the government is obliged to provide to the citizens. We do not expect, or want, public transportation on the weekend to operate exactly as it does on weekdays. Peak hours are not the same peak hours, and the destinations are not the same. We do demand that they evaluate the demand at the end of the week and activate the relevant lines accordingly. This is the necessary basis for the existence of a welfare state and an egalitarian state that benefits from social justice."
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Can you please link to the studies mentioned? In Stockholm and Australia?
Collective punishment of an entire public (in this case the poor) is not a Jewish trait.
Buses are called on Shabbat, but Judaism is preserved!!!
כלכלה
To establish a suitable infrastructure of public transportation, there is undoubtedly a need for high investments,
A large part of the pocket money, of course, comes from the traveling public (buying tickets). Therefore, as much as we reduce the hours of operation of that transportation (in hours when there is economic viability), we may cause the project to not be economically viable. something that can prevent its establishment in advance.
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In Israel there are more vehicles than people. It's time for 24/7 public transportation - in such a small country it's ridiculous that there is even a concept of a periphery. It's time to change that!
Those who do not travel on Shabbat in any case, are not relevant to the discussion.
Those who travel on Shabbat will in any case have to travel in a private vehicle.
Therefore, the logical conclusion is that public transportation on Shabbat will indeed reduce the use of private vehicles.
And including those who do not travel on Shabbat - they have no right to restrict those who need and want to. Then sages will say: "But we also pay for public transportation even though we don't use it." Then other sages will say: "Okay, then let's decide to limit old age pensions as well because we pay those too." Just such an example.
I wish Israel would already get out of the stupid pit it is in - because of people who sit at the top of the government and even then they are not interested in fuel expenses for a private car or alternatively using public transportation lines with poor service.
Science on a dime
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I agree with all the arguments of my predecessor regarding the failure of the research to meet any scientific criteria.
Without going into the writer's motive, it's a wonder that a person with a doctorate presents a study they conducted like the skin of garlic.
According to his premise, in Haifa, where public transportation is operated on Shabbat, there should have been a smaller number of vehicles, and not it.
If it is accepted by all that as public transportation is more developed, so is:
There is less air pollution, hence a decrease in disease and mortality.
There are fewer road accidents from here, fewer dead and injured.
There is less financial burden on the public hence improving the standard of living for the citizen.
So how does it happen that in Israel that it is not sufficiently developed, one can only blame the leadership in Israel that its policy or decision, regarding an open island and sometimes even a reduction of public transportation in Israel, comes at the expense of the health and lives of the country's citizens
On the days when the citizens of the country do not work or work partially on national or religious holidays and on Shabbats during Hol HaMoed, it must be taken into account that the private vehicles moving on Israel's roads transport many, many more children than on normal working and school days (see the terrible disaster that happened in Tiberias) therefore it is a moral obligation that on those days public transportation Will operate fully even at subsidized prices for children.
The argument (about reasons for buying a private car because of the lack of public transportation) is just speculation. Just because people who call themselves researchers came up with a speculation does not make the speculation research.
I can bring here another speculation (which seems to me to be much better than that of the "researchers"). My speculation is this:
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In a place where there is good public transportation, owners of private vehicles will prefer it, the private vehicles will be used by them (as a supplementary form of transportation) for traveling in areas where public transportation is poor. This trend will strengthen as the prices of cars and/or fuel are lower (relatively low to salary).
If my speculation is correct, the fact that people use private cars more is a result of public transport being bad.
Continuing my speculation. I don't see any significant connection between public transportation on Shabbat, and public transportation on weekdays, the situation seems to me like this:
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On Shabbat, people travel to destinations that are not well covered by public transportation (because most of the trips on Shabbat are long distances, or to scattered destinations, or other reasons that are not here to be detailed), therefore people who can afford to buy a car will prefer to use their private vehicle on Shabbat.
To Mordechai,
The argument is not a claim, although it certainly appears that way at first.
From re-reading, you will see that it is about the lack of public transportation causing the citizen to buy a car with the best of his money! (with an emphasis on the best of his money). That is, as soon as you don't rely on public transportation in advance, you will buy an expensive car and therefore the chances that you will use it increase. Cars are more expensive in Israel anyway, so leaving it at home is a default.
I believe that the state has additional interests for the citizens to use private vehicles over public transportation. The taxes on imports and fuel are significant - so let's not be naive. - I think this is the main issue that should be discussed in the social protest this summer
Maybe we will compromise on transportation on Shabbat that is operated by Gentiles of Shabbat.
How do the people in Stockholm not fall?!
Where is the research here?
What is the reference group? What is the sample group?
Where is the reference to places where there is public transportation on Shabbat?
Where is the comparison to places where there is no public transportation on Sundays or Fridays?
Even as a survey, it does not meet basic statistical criteria.
By any scientific criteria this is a joke
There is no doubt that an increase in the use of public transportation has many advantages, I don't think there is any debate here.
When comparing the use of public transportation from place to place, take into account:
Important parameters related to our decision whether to use her service..
The quality of the service itself, meeting the schedule
The quality of the internal conditions in the same transport, seats, air conditioning, noise
Frequency of departures from stations (general)
How many hours of sleep activity a day
The mesh of the lines/the amount of lines
Correct distribution of stations
Ease of transition between the lines
The ratio between the price of the trip and the average income or another parameter
It is clear that dropping one day directly harms the quality of the service and it doesn't matter which day, because it harms the way
Direct for all passengers for more than one day, on the day before and the day after and on the day of the shutdown.
On the face of it, according to my impression, it is extremely important that the transportation and the duty of the state to its citizens, to operate every day of the week, but this is a less significant parameter than the ones I presented before, in regards to the percentage of users and the success of public transportation
It is interesting that from the point of view of the quality of life of the citizens in Israel with regard to the economy, the quality of the environment, road accidents, everyone agrees that this is very important, and yet it is not on the political agenda.
To remind you, this is a study done in the transportation engineering track at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Technion.
Friends,
Your hatred of religion is driving you crazy.
You have completely lost the north.
This is not a scientific article, there is no compliance with basic scientific criteria, it is not research, it does not even deserve to be called a survey.
Go back to scientific writing instead of engaging in anti-Semitic propaganda!
In many cases the price of a bus ticket (the bus has at least 30 seats) is more expensive than the price of a service taxi (a service taxi has 10 seats).
why?
Is it because of the expensive maintenance of the buses?
If the reason is indeed the expensive maintenance, then why invest in expensive maintenance of buses instead of investing in cheap maintenance of service taxis?
A misleading argument
The data that the authors present in the article, is that eighty percent of the respondents in Stockholm had a private car and yet they used public transportation.
So the argument that lack of public transportation on Shabbat causes people to buy a car and therefore not use transportation is incorrect.
As for the part about leaving on Thursday and coming back on Saturday, well, really... that's not the story of using public transportation.
Self-deprivation repels Shabbat, doesn't it?
And there are very few things that deprive souls as gently as air pollution and waste of money.