Before leaving for work every morning, I check and make sure that my Rav-Kav card is loaded with money. A relatively high percentage of Jerusalemites (28%, as compared with 16% in Israel overall and 21% in Tel Aviv,) travel to work by bus. In addition, a large number of schoolchildren in Jerusalem also take the bus to school every day. All of these adults and children need to add more money to their Rav-Kav before alighting on public transportation. The big question is: Where can this be done?
Smartphones that include Near Field Communication (NFC) technology can solve this problem, plus there are about 430 charging stations scattered throughout Jerusalem, which comprise about 10% of the 4,260 stations located across the country. These stations, primarily located in businesses, serve people whose mobile devices don’t include NFC, don’t have a credit card, or who choose not to use this online service for various reasons.
Public transportation in the Arab neighborhoods of the eastern part of the city is not provided by Egged, but by 7 individual bus companies. Rav-Kav cards are in the process of implementation, but transfer tickets, allowing to continue the ride to Egged busses serving the western part of the city, are not available yet, and riders wishing to do that have to pay twice. This could be the reason why only 60 (13%) Rav-Kav charging stations are located in the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, despite being 38% of Jerusalem’s residents.
In addition, a large percentage of Jerusalem’s haredi population uses public transport, and about 41% of haredi residents in Jerusalem travel to work by bus. In the haredi neighborhoods, there are many charging stations, such as in Ramot Alon (15); Neve Yaakov (14); Har Nof (10); and Ramat Shlomo (10). By comparison, in East Talpiot there are only 4 charging stations, and 5 in Gilo.
The area with the highest density of charging stations is downtown, with about 60 charging stations. This is most likely due to the large number of businesses located there.
This data was gathered from the govmap.gov.il website, from the pti.org.il website, and from the 2018 Israel Central Bureau of Statistics Social Survey.
Translated by Hannah Hochner, Jerusalem Post
