Bnei Brak and Transport Ministry Clash Over Bus Routes and Central Station Plan

A sharp dispute has erupted between the Transport Ministry and the Bnei Brak municipality over the future of bus lines in the city, and the argument has also widened to the planned central bus station. The city asked not to restore part of the routes to Hazon Ish Street, saying the road is already overloaded with traffic.

The ministry reviewed the detour list sent by the municipality and said it found a troubling pattern. According to the list, Bnei Brak wanted routes to major ultra-Orthodox destinations, Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Beitar Illit, Talzstone, Rehovot and Kfar Chabad, removed from the corridor, while routes to Ashdod, Arad and Kiryat Gat were given preference instead. Ministry officials described this as a “clear lack of transportation logic” and voiced “serious concern about extraneous considerations,” rejecting the list.

Instead, the ministry drew up its own alternative and said six bus lines will return to Hazon Ish Street within about two weeks. That comes on top of the Elad routes, which were restored more than two months ago.

The central station issue has also deepened the feud. The municipality says the state halted the project, but the ministry denies that and says it advanced the plan with a private developer until the developer’s plans conflicted with congestion solutions being prepared for Route 4. The ministry says the city must now provide an alternative plot. On traffic congestion, the ministry says the real bottleneck is between Jabotinsky Street and Hazon Ish Street, so moving buses away from Hazon Ish alone will not solve the wider problem. It said it would continue acting “on the basis of professional considerations, data and public responsibility,” adding that “campaigns will not replace infrastructure, and smears will not solve congestion.”