Photo Credit: Kobi Richter/TPS
Transport Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Wednesday that Rav-Kav, the reusable, contactless, stored value smart card for making electronic payments to the different public transportation operators across Israel, has been extended to residents of Judea and Samaria, starting January 1, 2020.
(That’s today, and I’ve just typed 2020 for the first time as a relevant date and I have to admit it was a little thrilling.)
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The minister’s press release revealed that since he had taken office on June 17, 2019, residents of Judea and Samaria had been asking him why they could not benefit from the card, which, in Jerusalem, is the only payment method on local buses.
As he demonstrated today, there were no technical reasons for discriminating against the settler community other than politics. So he fixed it.
As part of the change, users of Judea and Samaria bus lines will be able to pay for their travel via two alternatives: A. Cash payment at the current price; and B. Payment using the accrued value on their card at the discounted price provided to all cardholders.
Minister Smotrich said on Wednesday: “Another step in the normalization of life in Judea and Samaria. In recent months, we have labored together with the Public Transport Authority at the Transport Ministry in order to produce a solution for using a multi-line aggregate value on the Judea and Samaria lines.
“The accumulated value on the multi-line card is the most basic product that the Transport Ministry offers to public transport users, and we were not prepared to allow a situation where the Judaean and Samaria settlers continue to be treated as stepchildren.
“The ministry is currently working to bring about a significant and wide improvement in the public transport service in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said.
And this, boys and girls, is how you build sovereignty.
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