Last update - 00:00 09/08/2007
New Economic Arrangements Bill will promote public transportation
By Avi Bar-Eli, Haaretz Correspondent
A series of measures aimed at encouraging the use of public transportation will be included in the Economics Arrangement Bill accompanying the 2008 budget, the Finance and Transportation Ministries have decided.
The measures will include an income tax deduction for money spent on taking public transportation to and from work; a decrease in the deduction currently granted for parking expenses; letting civil servants ride free, or at a discount, on public transportation, instead of giving them a travel allowance in their paychecks; doubling the fines levied on private cars that use public transport lanes, to NIS 1,000, along with increased police enforcement to catch offenders; and requiring all new construction plans that involve rezoning land to include a survey of the plan's effect on public transport in its permit application.
Over the past three decades, there has been a steady decrease in the use of public transportation, despite its many advantages, such as reduced pollution and traffic congestion and improved safety. This decline has occurred despite government subsidies for buses and trains that exceed NIS 2.5 billion a year. A series of projects have been launched in recent years to improve the accessibility of public transport and the service it provides, but the ministries decided that economic incentives were needed as well.
Aside from the ones described above, the ministries have proposed several other measures.
First, within half a year, they plan to develop an integrated fee structure for all types of public transport (trains, buses, shared taxis, etc.). The fees will be based on the length of the journey, when it occurs and its points of origin and destination, but discounts will be offered to those who have to switch from one type of public transport to another during the trip. As a corollary, the government is also preparing to introduce "smart cards" that can be used to buy tickets on any type of public transport. By the end of next year, about 35 percent of the public transport market is expected to run on smart cards.
In addition, the ministries plan to continue privatizing bus routes; tenders are slated to be issued for about 25 percent of the routes currently run by the Egged and Dan cooperatives by the end of 2008. Egged, which currently dominates the market, will be allowed to start competing in these tenders once at least two private operators have reached a 10 percent market share. The franchises will be granted for six-year terms, with the possibility of a single three-year extension; after that, new tenders will have to be issued.
The ministries also agreed to increase development budgets for public transportation: Israel Railways' development budget, for instance, is slated to be NIS 27.6 billion next year, a real increase of NIS 5 billion compared to this year.
Finally, they plan to establish an interministerial committee to consider other changes in the public transport system, including the possibility of establishing a unified public transport authority within the Transportation Ministry. The committee will submit its recommendations to the finance and transportation ministers within six months of its appointment.