I knew transportation would be difficult on Saturday but I didn’t realize just how challenging it would be. In Jerusalem, I know that no public transportation runs from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday so I assumed Tel Aviv would be similar and was proud of my cultural competence in that area. I was trying to find a solution to get to a vigil Mass because Sunday is a class/work day in Israel (another surprise, which I probably should have known).
I decided to try to take the city’s bikeshare system which I had heard was affordable. I downloaded the app at home and put in all my information thinking I was set. I was wrong. I began going to bike racks only to find all bikes were out of service or gone, of course university students take all the bikes on Saturday. Next, when I finally did find a rack, I couldn’t use an ebike because the app would not accept my identification. I know Israel has more security measures in place than the US but not being allowed to take an ebike because my US passport and drivers license didn’t count as “valid id” surprised me. I ended up taking a regular bike five miles in 90F heat and 70% humidity. It was not an enjoyable experience and I was shocked to see that it had cost me $7 when I parked it, it wasn’t even an ebike!
My way home proved easier but equally surprising. After Mass, many people in the congregation headed for the bus stop afterwards. Sure enough, Tel Aviv has decided to run a few bus routes on Saturdays because traffic is so bad when no-one can take public transit and many Israelis in Tel Aviv do not refrain from motorized transport on Shabbat. I finally got home on very expensive bus rides.
While I knew that religious observance of Shabbat influenced the lack of transportation on Saturdays, something new I am learning about the culture is that Tel Aviv tends to be much more secular than other parts of the country. It has to adapt the practices for its own population in which many people do not observe Shabbat in the more traditional ways. It has transportation, but its limited availability drives prices up. Upstream from my tangible experience of difficulty traveling is the conflicting challenges of Israeli society, the religious values and the practical exigencies of those who do not share those values both influencing the transportation system.