The Tel Aviv District Court rejected a provocative petition by Bar-Ilan University faculty members, ruling that Egged's decision to cancel stops at the campus on Line 319 from Bnei Brak to Rechovot is not discrimination in favor of the chareidi public.
According to the petitioners, there is no substantive reason why Line 319 should not stop at Bar-Ilan and the decision-making process was not carried out objectively.
Egged officials said they suspect the petitioners' sole motive is to undermine the Mehadrin lines, adding that the change stemmed from requests and complaints from passengers regarding the extended travel time caused by the additional stop at the university, saying that only a handful of the passengers on the line use the university stop, whereas the vast majority are traveling between Bnei Brak and Rechovot.
Egged also said it was surprised by the legal challenge since the change in Line 319 was designed to streamline transportation services and was coordinated with the university's faculty chair and the Student Union secretary.
Judge Sarah Brosh rejected the petition, ruling that the prohibition against gender segregation on public transportation is wholly unrelated to the petitioners' demand to restore the Bar-Ilan bus stop. She determined that the primary consideration behind the decision — the large number of passengers traveling between Bnei Brak and Rechovot compared to the number of passengers using the university bus stop — was legitimate under the circumstances.
"In this case the petitioners failed to establish a basis to their claim of preferential treatment for the chareidi sector," the judge wrote. Noting that other lines pick up passengers at the Bar-Ilan bus stop, she recommended that Egged try to expand the hours of operation and the frequency on those lines in order to improve service for the university faculty, staff and students.
The judge concluded that the petition was provocative and ordered the petitioners to pay NIS 15,000 ($4,300) to cover court costs and attorney fees.
