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Car Life In Israel

2024

Video: Car Life In Israel

Video: Car Life In Israel
Video: Living costs in ISRAEL (It's EXPENSIVE!) 2024, March
Car Life In Israel
Car Life In Israel
Anonim

In Israel, you immediately pay attention to the fact that the main means of transportation around the country is a car. There is almost no railway transport, and the tram line has just begun to be built in Jerusalem, and, as they say, the attitude of the residents of the Eternal City to the tram is far from unambiguous.

Large buses run on city and intercity routes. The fare in the city is standard and does not depend on the distance - about a dollar per trip. You can buy a monthly pass or a card for eleven trips directly on the bus (the eleventh is free of charge). They enter the buses through the front door and pay for the driver's fare (he is obligatory dressed in a white shirt and tie).

The cost of intercity travel depends on the distance. But Israel is a rather small country, and, as I found out from our guide, the price of a ticket for the farthest bus route does not exceed $ 20. In fact, the national currency is the shekel (which equates to four US dollars), but dollars are accepted for payment everywhere. Tickets can also be purchased from the driver.

A round-trip ticket is much cheaper than buying them separately. Intercity buses depart from stations called "tahana merkazit" or "Egged" ("Egged" is the name of the monopoly, which actually carries out bus transportation).

Buses do not run from Friday evening to Saturday evening: Saturday is the holy day of rest for the Jews, and on this day you should not even leave the house without special need. Therefore, the traffic on Saturdays is much less intense, the streets are half empty - only Arabs drive, ordinary taxis and fixed-route taxis.

As for taxis - both ordinary and fixed-route ones - it seems that this business is not done by individual private entrepreneurs, but by large companies: taxis are painted the same, have inscriptions on the sides, and a yellow light panel on the roof. I have not seen a single old or rusty - all the cars are pretty fresh. The vast majority are Mercedes or Skoda.

But in the personal use of the "Germans" is relatively small. Apparently, in Israel, even Opel (not to mention Mercedes, BMW and Volkswagen) is a status car. In my opinion, the entire passenger fleet is divided approximately equally between Japanese and Korean cars, on the one hand, and on the other hand, by the “French”, “Italians” and “Czechs”. Mazda Israelis are especially favored by the current troika and six, and previous generations.

Many pickups, and even more utilitarian “heels”: FIAT Doblo, Peugeot Partner, Renault Kangoo. There are almost more of them than ordinary sedans and hatchbacks. It seems that micro-vans are an ideal car for a family business.

For the entire trip I have never met my dear Renault Logan.

In the Arab neighborhoods and cities (Bethany, Jericho) there are fewer cars, they are older, more broken-down …

Throughout Israel, our TV Channel One is caught. The advertising inserts are also in Russian, but the advertisement itself is local and, as in Russia, is full of offers to buy cars. By the way, before Christmas and New Year Hyundai offered the Israelis very serious (5–8 percent of the cost) discounts on Getz, Elantra, NF …

In cities, gas stations on every corner, and on suburban stretches are quite rare. Gasoline costs about a dollar per liter. Locals say that you can pay for fuel in cash, but motorists, as a rule, use cards - special fuel or credit cards.

In the so-called Old Town, the streets are narrow, and if there is automobile traffic, it is often one-way. Instead of the usual sidewalks there are concrete columns that separate the pedestrian part from the carriageway. In the new quarters, the roads are two- or three-lane, with good lighting, clear markings. There are quite a few tunnels in Jerusalem.

Road signs are international and almost do not differ from Russian ones. I found only two differences. Geographic features located inside the city (center, municipality, Damascus Gate) are written in three languages (Hebrew, Arabic and English) against a green background, and the remaining points (Jaffa, Haifa, the Dead Sea) on a blue background. The second difference concerns the Stop sign. In Israel, it is made in the form of a red hexagon with the image of an open palm facing you.

At intersections, a separate traffic light is provided for each lane. It is interesting that if red is lit right and left, then yellow is to the right, that is, if there is a gap in the perpendicular stream, you can turn right. I must say, the concept of "traffic jam" is familiar to local motorists.

The speed in the city is limited to 50 km / h, on the highway - 90 km / h. Suburban highways are magnificent - as a rule, two-lane, with clear markings and lighting, multi-level interchanges, dividing concrete or metal fences.

At the entrance to a large city, the car checks a mixed outfit of policemen and soldiers. On the border of the Palestinian Authority and Israel, it’s not just a stationary checkpoint, but often a huge, about twenty meters high, concrete wall equipped with firing points and numerous electronic tracking and detection tools. Palestinians have their own army and police. Everything is very similar - and the barriers are the same, and camouflage, and gearbox. Only the Arabs are “Kalashnikovs”, and the Jews have “Uzi” …

Of course, a traffic jam accumulates in front of each checkpoint, although the transport goes and is inspected not in one “neck”, as we have in the Kuban, but in two to three rows in each direction - according to the number of lanes on the road leading to the post …

Quite often there are mopeds and scooters. If I understand correctly, entire delivery companies (mail or, for example, pizza) work with motor vehicles. Mokiki left on the sidewalks are often wrapped in special plastic covers - in case of possible bad weather.

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