Showing posts with label transportation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label transportation. Show all posts
Friday, February 8, 2019
Friday, July 20, 2018
Leave the Car at Home
It’s hard to get around Israel without a car – especially when taking non-routine rides, such as on rainy days or on Shabbat when there’s not much public transportation. But can car owners manage their regular routine without using their car? Well, it turns out a lot of people are already doing that.
Monday, October 2, 2017
Safe Travels
Lior Regev
Israel’s roads are the most congested among all OECD countries. Residents of and visitors to Israel’s major cities are well aware of this congestion: every morning long lines of cars grace each junction and interchange in and around the city. Experts in the field have increasingly promoted public transportation as the best solution to the city’s traffic problems, and in recent years the government has invested heavily in this area. The question is whether the residents of Israel’s cities feel the impact of these investments.
The findings of the Central Bureau of Statistics’ Social Survey (average for 2014-15) indicate that 66% of Israel’s residents aged 20 and above commute to work primarily by private vehicle, motorcycle, or carpool. For about 20%, the main mode of transportation is a train or bus, and 10% ride a bicycle or walk to work (the remainder work from home or commute by unknown means).
There are interesting differences between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in this regard. While the proportion of those who commute by vehicle or carpool is comparable in both cities (50% and 51%, respectively), the use of public transportation is much more prevalent in Jerusalem: 33% of Jerusalem’s residents rode the train or a bus to work, compared with only 26% in Tel Aviv. Biking and walking are more prevalent in Tel Aviv, where 17% of the residents commute to work by bicycle or foot.
The differences stem, evidently, from Tel Aviv’s more manageable topography and convenient concentration of workplaces. Jerusalem, by contrast, is hilly and spread out, and the distance between its residential and business zones might explain its residents’ preference for public transportation. The low rate of car ownership among the Haredi population is also, presumably, a contributing factor.
The use of public transportation in Jerusalem is in fact the highest among Israel's large cities. Among the other major cities, the rate varies from 22% (in Be’er Sheva) to 29% (in Netanya). Jerusalem is the only city where the rate exceeds 30%.
The frequency of use of public transportation is also higher in Jerusalem. In 2015, about 19% of Israel’s residents reported that they ride a bus on a daily basis; that is, buses were their main means of transport. This rate is higher in the major cities than in the suburban and rural areas: in Haifa it stood at 26%, in Rishon LeZion at 25%, in Tel Aviv at 23%, and in Jerusalem the rate was 32%.
Translation: Merav Datan
Israel’s roads are the most congested among all OECD countries. Residents of and visitors to Israel’s major cities are well aware of this congestion: every morning long lines of cars grace each junction and interchange in and around the city. Experts in the field have increasingly promoted public transportation as the best solution to the city’s traffic problems, and in recent years the government has invested heavily in this area. The question is whether the residents of Israel’s cities feel the impact of these investments.
The findings of the Central Bureau of Statistics’ Social Survey (average for 2014-15) indicate that 66% of Israel’s residents aged 20 and above commute to work primarily by private vehicle, motorcycle, or carpool. For about 20%, the main mode of transportation is a train or bus, and 10% ride a bicycle or walk to work (the remainder work from home or commute by unknown means).
There are interesting differences between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in this regard. While the proportion of those who commute by vehicle or carpool is comparable in both cities (50% and 51%, respectively), the use of public transportation is much more prevalent in Jerusalem: 33% of Jerusalem’s residents rode the train or a bus to work, compared with only 26% in Tel Aviv. Biking and walking are more prevalent in Tel Aviv, where 17% of the residents commute to work by bicycle or foot.
The differences stem, evidently, from Tel Aviv’s more manageable topography and convenient concentration of workplaces. Jerusalem, by contrast, is hilly and spread out, and the distance between its residential and business zones might explain its residents’ preference for public transportation. The low rate of car ownership among the Haredi population is also, presumably, a contributing factor.
The use of public transportation in Jerusalem is in fact the highest among Israel's large cities. Among the other major cities, the rate varies from 22% (in Be’er Sheva) to 29% (in Netanya). Jerusalem is the only city where the rate exceeds 30%.
The frequency of use of public transportation is also higher in Jerusalem. In 2015, about 19% of Israel’s residents reported that they ride a bus on a daily basis; that is, buses were their main means of transport. This rate is higher in the major cities than in the suburban and rural areas: in Haifa it stood at 26%, in Rishon LeZion at 25%, in Tel Aviv at 23%, and in Jerusalem the rate was 32%.
Translation: Merav Datan
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Big City Transit
Yair Assaf-Shapira
Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies www.jiis.org
Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies www.jiis.org
In large cities, public transit is a critical factor which, in addition to personal mobility, enables economic development, social, commercial and cultural life. Looking at the quality of transit in cities can be done from a few perspectives, and this time we choose to look at the customer, or rider side.
In the Social Survey held annually by the Central Bureau of Statistics, participants are asked about their use and satisfaction with public transit in their city. In the surveys of 2013-14 (we averaged to minimize error) 69% of Israelis aged 20 and over stated that they use public transit. This percentage may seem high, but it's going down. Eight years before, in the 2005-06 surveys it stood higher, at 73%.
One could expect to find a higher percentage of users in large cities. This is true for Jerusalem, Haifa Ashdod and Petach Tikva (where use rates are 84%, 79%, 78% and 71% respectively), but wrong for Rishon Lezion and Tel Aviv (63% and 65% respectively). We may assume that Jerusalem's exceptionally high rate (at 84%), stems from the combination of a very large city in terms of distances, with some of the neighborhoods located far from activity centers; a large population of young adults (ex. students); a large population living in a low socio-economic status; and a well developed net of busses and light rail compared to other cities in Israel.
The reforms done in Jerusalem and Haifa's transit systems may be one of the factors contributing to the fact that these are the only two cities in which a rise in transit use was recorded. Use in Haifa and in Jerusalem rose by 4 and by 1 percentage points (PP) respectively. In the other large cities in Israel a drop of 1 to 4 PP was recorded.
How about satisfaction from transit service? It seems that the high rate of users in Jerusalem is not connected to satisfaction from public transit. Only 45% of the Jerusalemite transit users stated they were satisfied or very satisfied with the public transportation in their area of residence. This figure is low compared to both Israel (58%) and the other large cities (67% to 75%). The combination of a high user rate and low satisfaction rate shows that many of Jerusalem's transit riders are "captive audience", using transit not necessarily because it's the best option to get around in the city.
On the other hand, Jerusalem is the only city in Israel with an LRT line. The LRT completely reformed transit in the city, and the system is still expanding, so one may argue that we are still in the "learning curve".
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Take the Keys but It’s Registered in My Name
Lior Regev
Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies
www.jiis.org
Last August, after years of planning and delays, work began on the first line (the Red Line) of the light rail in Metropolitan Tel Aviv. The complex infrastructure works that are taking place in the heart of the metropolis have raised concerns and tempers among merchants and business owners worried about loss of income and clients. The efforts it took to build and operate the light rail in Jerusalem teach us that the process of constructing a public transportation route in a built-up area that serves as an urban center can be expected to involve difficult labor pains.
Although it has improved in recent years, the municipal public transportation system here is not as developed as that of cities in Western Europe. The limited mobility, in addition to lack of public transportation on Saturday, leads many to purchase a private vehicle. According to data of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), in 2014 more than 2.1 million vehicles were registered in Israel. Some 83% (close to 1.8 million) of these were private cars (neither public nor commercial), and the remainder comprised taxicabs, trucks, buses, minibuses, and two-wheeled vehicles.
In terms of locality, evidently even though Jerusalem has 23,000 more households than Tel Aviv (210,000 and 186,000, respectively), the number of private cars registered in Jerusalem is about 25% lower than the number for Tel Aviv (161,000 for Jerusalem compared with 214,000 for Tel Aviv).
Rishon LeZion – presumably because it is a suburb where many residents work in the metropolis – holds the record for the number of private cars per household, with an average of 1.18 cars per household. Tel Aviv is next, with 1.15 cars per household, and Haifa is in third place at 0.93. The average number of cars per household in Jerusalem is 0.77, slightly higher than the average for Israel, at 0.76.
One can imagine several reasons for the higher number of cars in Tel Aviv: Jerusalem residents are less wealthy on average and therefore less able to handle the expenses of a car. Additionally, Tel Aviv constitutes a center of business, and a profile of its residents includes more workers in free trades, who are willing and able to pay for increased mobility and time saved.
But this is only a partial explanation. Traffic jams are the lot of any city such as Tel Aviv, the core city of a metropolis, just as other core cities throughout the world have to cope with ongoing traffic congestion. In other words, if you live in the inner city, a car might not necessarily improve your mobility in getting around the city, certainly not if a light rail line is being installed. Another reason lies in the system of registering vehicles by address.
The CBS classifies vehicles according to the address of the owner. For this reason, many cars are registered in Tel Aviv, when in fact they are registered in the name of private companies that operate in the city. These are in addition to state-owned cars and cars on lease. In sum, the number of cars in a city provides a direct measure of economic activity in the city, and serves as another indicator of the economic strength of the city.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Jerusalem's Commuters
By Omer Yaniv
Morning. You’ve finished your coffee and sent the kids off to school. It’s time to go to work. But if you live in Jerusalem, your commute to work might not be so simple: Is your workplace within walking or biking distance from home? Or must you rely on a car or public transportation? As of 2013 about 61% of Jerusalem residents indicated, through the Central Bureau of Statistics Social Survey, that they have an inconvenient commute to work. One of the main reasons for this is the high percentage of Jerusalem residents who do not own a vehicle: 46%, compared with 33% for Israel at large, as of 2013. Thus, many of the city’s residents depend on transportation provided by their employer, on carpools, or on public transportation in order to reach their workplace.
The percentage of Jerusalem residents who require more than half an hour to reach their workplace is 45%, significantly higher than the national average of 33%. By comparison, the percentage of Tel Aviv and Haifa residents whose work commute takes more than half an hour is 25% and 28%, respectively. These data reflect the efficiency of public transportation systems in various cities during morning rush hour, but they might also indicate the importance of workplace proximity to home in choosing a place to live, or the lack of employment options near the city.
According to the 2008 census of the Central Bureau of Statistics, about 51% of Jerusalem’s residents commute to work by private vehicle (compared with 54% of Tel Aviv residents and 58% of Haifa residents), while 34% use public transportation or transportation arranged by the employer (compared with 28% of Tel Aviv residents and 27% of Haifa residents), and only 13% commute by bicycle or foot (comparable to the figure for Tel Aviv residents, and compared with 10% of Haifa residents). The census data also indicate that the average distance to work for Jerusalem District residents is slightly below the national average (11.4 km versus 13.6 km, respectively). Given that Jerusalem residents make greater use of public transportation, we can certainly point to a correlation between the long work commute time in Jerusalem and the extensive use of public transportation on the part of the city’s residents.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Little Red Corvette or Pink Cadillac?
Aviel Yelinek
In 2010 approximately 2.05 million private motor vehicles traversed Israel’s roads. Israel has a motorization rate of 267 private motor vehicles for every 1,000 residents, which is relatively low in comparison to other developed countries. Approximately 39% of vehicles in Israel were produced in Japan, 11% in South Korea, and 8% in Spain and in France (each). Interestingly, only about 4% of motor vehicles in Israel were produced in the United States. Among the private motor vehicles added to Israel’s roads in the past year, the highest relative proportion belonged to Mazda (16%). The company that came in second place was Hyundai (15%), and in third place was Toyota (11%).
The motorization rate and the average age of motor vehicles are usually indicators of a population’s socio-economic status. Typically, the higher a population’s socio-economic status is, the higher its motorization rate will be and the lower the average age of its motor vehicles will be.
The motorization rate in Jerusalem in 2009 measured 169 private motor vehicles per 1,000 persons, which was one of the lowest rates among the country’s cities. For the sake of comparison, the motorization rates in Be’er Sheva measured 198 vehicles per 1,000 persons. In Rishon LeZion this figure stood at 295, and for Haifa it was 321. The motorization rate in Tel Aviv was among the highest in the country, measuring 469 private motor vehicles for every 1,000 persons. As the graph shows, Jerusalem’s motorization rate is relatively low in comparison with its adjacent localities, excluding Beit Shemesh and the Haredi localities.
The data regarding the average age of private vehicles paint a similar picture. The average age of a private vehicle in Israel in 2009 was 6.9 years. The average age of a private vehicle in Jerusalem was the highest among major cities, measuring 8.3. The average age in Be’er Sheva was 7.2. In Rishon LeZion it was 7.0, and in Haifa it measured 6.2. The average age of motor vehicles in Tel Aviv was among the lowest in the country, measuring 4.8.
In 2010 approximately 2.05 million private motor vehicles traversed Israel’s roads. Israel has a motorization rate of 267 private motor vehicles for every 1,000 residents, which is relatively low in comparison to other developed countries. Approximately 39% of vehicles in Israel were produced in Japan, 11% in South Korea, and 8% in Spain and in France (each). Interestingly, only about 4% of motor vehicles in Israel were produced in the United States. Among the private motor vehicles added to Israel’s roads in the past year, the highest relative proportion belonged to Mazda (16%). The company that came in second place was Hyundai (15%), and in third place was Toyota (11%).
The motorization rate and the average age of motor vehicles are usually indicators of a population’s socio-economic status. Typically, the higher a population’s socio-economic status is, the higher its motorization rate will be and the lower the average age of its motor vehicles will be.
The motorization rate in Jerusalem in 2009 measured 169 private motor vehicles per 1,000 persons, which was one of the lowest rates among the country’s cities. For the sake of comparison, the motorization rates in Be’er Sheva measured 198 vehicles per 1,000 persons. In Rishon LeZion this figure stood at 295, and for Haifa it was 321. The motorization rate in Tel Aviv was among the highest in the country, measuring 469 private motor vehicles for every 1,000 persons. As the graph shows, Jerusalem’s motorization rate is relatively low in comparison with its adjacent localities, excluding Beit Shemesh and the Haredi localities.
The data regarding the average age of private vehicles paint a similar picture. The average age of a private vehicle in Israel in 2009 was 6.9 years. The average age of a private vehicle in Jerusalem was the highest among major cities, measuring 8.3. The average age in Be’er Sheva was 7.2. In Rishon LeZion it was 7.0, and in Haifa it measured 6.2. The average age of motor vehicles in Tel Aviv was among the lowest in the country, measuring 4.8.
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