Monday, August 11, 2008

Bus Stops in Israel (Integration Lesson #57)

To better help you to integrate into Israeli society, let me illustrate the type of thinking that goes on at various levels of society. This lesson is advised only for those immigrants who have been here three months or more as they will probably be able to find a substitute bus stop.

This example could be entitled: "How To (Im)Properly Position a Bus Stop".

First, as a serious upper echelon city transportation manager given the task of placing a bus stop, find a section of sidealk with a clear view, without any obstructions, not like this one:



Next, place yourself in the bus stop so that you may judge if a passenger inside can surely see an oncoming bus.



To convince yourself that all is okay even if you have doubts, take a step or two outside and back of the bus stop so that you can pretend that all is okay to your supervisor.



Just to be sure, look at the stop from the bus driver's view.

Here from 50 feet away.



And again from 10 feet away.



Now that you are convinced that - despite the obstruction of the poster pillbox and the tree - the bus driver can easily spot a lone passenger at night sitting inside the stop avoiding the rain or the cold, walk away from a job well done.

To blame the guilty, this bus stop is at the end of Emeq Refaim Street, near the corner of David Remez Square just around from the Begin Center, where I work.

4 comments:

Lion of Zion said...

that's really funny. but here's my suggestion to fix the problem. the city should take down that poster pillbox. i'll never understand why israelis love to make their cities look so ugly with all those posters.

YMedad said...

When I arrived at the station this afternoon to go back towards town, I saw one of the Begin Center workers standing outside and behind the stop. I at first thought she was trying stay out of the hot sun but then realized she wasn't in the shade. Actually, she was trying to get a better look at what bus, either 7, 4, 18 or 21א.

Lion of Zion said...

you sure she wasn't reading the posters?

YMedad said...

Very sure. Her name is Sonya and we discussed the ineptitude of the situation. After all, the re-paved the entire sidewalk and could easily have moved the stop 10 meters over and even a slight bay as the sidewalk is deep there.