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NEWS
Dung Gate Bus Stop Restored for Morning and Evening
Use
by Tzvi Sofer
Egged Lines 1, 2 and 3 to the Kosel will resume using the bus
stop inside the Dung Gate during the morning and evening
hours when public transportation use is lighter, following a
decision by the Jerusalem Police and the Transportation
Ministry.
Every day thousands of mispallelim — including
elderly visitors — had to walk to and from the bus stop
outside the Old City walls after the Jerusalem Police
instructed Egged not to use the bus stop inside the Dung
Gate. The police's change in policy followed an Egged
decision to extend Line 3 to the Kosel Maarovi,
thereby causing congestion at the bus stop.
With complaints flowing into his office, Deputy Mayor Rabbi
Uri Maklev set about rectifying the problem by contacting
Transportation Ministry Director Alex Langer and demanding
that he stop forcing hundreds of mispallelim from to
use a distant bus stop. Kobi Bar-Tov, director of the
Jerusalem Municipality's Transportation Department, also
worked hard to alter the decision, speaking with Egged and
with Transportation Ministry officials. MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni
also asked the officials to again make the Dung Gate bus stop
available to all bus lines.
In response to their requests the Transportation Ministry and
the Jerusalem District Traffic Police decided, as a first
step, to allow Egged buses to enter Dung Gate until 9:00 am
and after 5:00 p.m. The daytime policy remains under
discussion.
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