This week, something magical happened: I rode the light rail.
Yes, dear reader, our beloved light rail, with its new tracks and that same annoying bell, is back.
Almost.
You may have noticed that when the announcement was made, there was an addendum. “Light rail fully resumes operations – except HaTurim station.”
Here at The Jerusalem Post, our celebration was short-lived, as we began to theorize whether Transportation Minister Miri Regev had heard our grumblings and chosen to purposefully pick the station by our building to remain closed.
On a real note, the reasoning is: HaTurim will become an intersection between the Red Line and the new Green Line, which will (hopefully) be operational by 2026.
Miri Regev's (alleged) vendetta against dogs
Speaking of Regev and her alleged grudge against the Post, did you know that if your dog can’t sit on your lap, it needs its own ticket? Because “C” and “E,” the Post’s resident big dog parents, had no idea.
“When I came to Israel, a bus ticket cost NIS 4.9, and now it’s NIS 8,” C told me. “So if I want to go out with my dog, the minimum price for each direction is NIS 16. It’s unrealistic to push people toward public transport while at the same time making it so expensive that it has become inaccessible.”
To put it into perspective, minimum hourly wage is NIS 33.58, meaning that a round trip ticket with a dog costs about an hour of work – provided you’re only traveling by bus, and up to eight kilometers.
With train tickets ranging anywhere from NIS 11 to over NIS 50, depending on the distance, taking your dog to the office could cost a full day’s salary.
“Miri Regev has a vendetta against Israelis living happy lives,” E said.
“I don’t think it’s reasonable to have to buy a ticket for my dog; he’s reasonably well behaved and likes to sit under my chair. He’s not taking space from another passenger, and he’s not costing the lines or the government money.
“The fact that it’s coming from a government minister who is more than often found to be doing corrupt things and giving her friends kickbacks, it makes perfect sense for her to be involved in implementing this law because Miri Regev lives in Miri Regev’s own world, where she only cares about Miri Regev,” E elaborated.
Now yes, I know that the minister is not singlehandedly behind all my problems (although if I found out she was behind my cat’s hairball, I wouldn’t be surprised); but when you assume a role like hers, you have to be ready to get saddled with the blame.
So, when the public turned to her for some reassurances earlier this month when an accident left the Tel Aviv train stations isolated from the rest of the country, what was her response?
Like many Israelis, I was in a traffic jam when she said that, stuck in a bus during rush hour with no functioning air conditioning, laughing at the sheer audacity. The same woman who said there was no issue with flights during the Iran war because she was managing just fine, is now telling us that we’re all overreacting while she’s chauffeured from one out-of-order station to the next.
So, while Regev continues her circuit denying the war in Ba Sing Se (Avatar), we no longer get the joy of dogs in the office, and we spend our days hearing the chimes of a train that won’t stop for us.
Maybe it’s a good thing. Without our light rail station, The Jerusalem Post gets NIS 8 richer every day.