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NEWS
Egged Transported Over 60,000 Passengers to Kever
Rochel
by Betzalel Kahn
Starting on motzei Shabbos, the beginning of the
yahrtzeit for Rochel Imeinu, over 60,000 passengers
rode Egged's Line 163 to Kever Rochel. Egged Jerusalem says
the arrangements involved coordination among various entities
as well as security arrangements, which presented challenges
in keeping the constant flow of visitors running smoothly.
Despite the complexity of the operation and the field
conditions Egged made every effort to provide efficient
service with frequent departures.
Shortly after Shabbos hundreds of passengers descended on the
point of departure at Jerusalem's Central Bus Station and a
special bus stop outside Yeshivas Rozhin on Rechov Malchei
Yisroel. Accordion buses took passengers to the checkpoint in
Gilo where bulletproof buses stood waiting to shuttle them to
the grave site.
According to directives by security forces the site was only
opened to visitors at 8:00 p.m. to prevent chilul
Shabbos since the soldiers need some time to make the
house Shabbos- dik. But by then thousands of people had
already arrived, far exceeding the number of visitors the
site can accommodate at one time. Many people were forced to
endure long waits in crowded buses before they could enter
the site.
Later, due to the heavy congestion, security officials
decided to permit the accordion buses to cross the checkpoint
and continue to the site. During peak hours buses departed at
a rate of one per minute. The flow of visitors subsided
somewhat during the late-morning hours, with only a few
hundred people praying at the site, but in the afternoon the
number of passengers swelled again and departures became more
frequent in accordance.
Egged operated a special command post near the Gilo
Checkpoint to regulate traffic. Egged inspectors lined the
route, dispatching reports on the level of demand at various
bus stops.
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