Jerusalem light rail franchisee CityPass will start charging fares as of December 1, 2011. The fare will be NIS 6.40, the same as the bus fare. The fare will also be valid for a connecting Egged Israel Transport Cooperative Society Ltd. bus ride within 90 minutes. CityPass will also offer monthly passes.
CityPass has been operating the light rail for three months for free. The fare is part of the arbitration agreement between the franchisee and the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport.
The Ministry of Transport's permit to charge fares came after it restructured fares in the greater Jerusalem area, setting a uniform fare for the area that includes Mevasseret Zion, Maaleh Adumim, and Givat Zeev.
When CityPass begins full commercial operation of the light rail - 21 trains will operate at a fequency of every five minutes, instead of 14 trains operating at a frequency of every twelve minutes at present - it will receive an additional NIS 150 million from the government. However, the franchisee has not yet received a permit to increase the frequency of trains because the work giving the trains priority at traffic lights has not been completed, and because the trains tend to disappear from the traffic controllers' screens, due to a glitch.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 8, 2011
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