Israel Railways App Popularity Surges After Legal Threat

The Israeli train company, "Rakkevet Yisrael," has seen its free competitor app, Better Rail, experience a surge in popularity following threats of legal action. Better Rail's downloads more than doubled, and it topped the Israeli App Store charts, surpassing Waze and Google Maps in daily installations. Typically, Better Rail received around 200 downloads weekly. After "Rakkevet Yisrael" announced its claims, the app gained approximately 8,000 new downloads, bringing its total to about 10,000 new users since the threat, compared to 5,000 in the five years prior.

"Rakkevet Yisrael" alleges that Better Rail illegally scraped information from its systems, violated terms of use, and infringed on commercial secrets. The company also links the third-party app to disruptions and increased load on its digital systems, claiming hundreds of thousands of shekels in damages. Despite Better Rail's increased user base, "Rakkevet Yisrael" maintains its demands for the app to cease using its interfaces, delete scraped data, and provide details on its data extraction methods.

Developers of Better Rail deny the accusations, emphasizing their app is free, non-commercial, and open-source. They assert no systems were hacked, as the train company's data was publicly accessible without requiring registration or passwords. Better Rail's representatives have requested "Rakkevet Yisrael" to release its inspection results and data supporting claims of system failures and damages.

Following the dispute, Better Rail stopped direct connections to the train company's systems and switched to using data from the Ministry of Transport. However, developers warn this data may contain gaps, potentially leading to inaccurate information for passengers. "Rakkevet Yisrael" stated that comprehensive train information is available on its official website and app, meeting strict cybersecurity and service quality standards for critical infrastructure. The company added that third-party projects should obtain data through the Ministry of Transport's database, a route also offered to Better Rail's representatives.