The Carmelit – Haifa’s underground funicular transport system.

Hebrew: הרכבת התחתית – כרמלית חיפה

Who’d have thought you can travel and explore Haifa from Downtown to the Carmel Center in just 8 minutes.  The  Carmelit is the underground funicular railway in Haifa. The Carmelit is one of the smallest subways in the world, having only six stations and a single tunnel 1800 meters long. Two, two-car coaches run on a single track with a short double-track section halfway to allow the train coaches to pass each other. The altitude difference between the first and last stations is 274 meters.

Carmelit route & stations

Forget about traffic jams, parking problems and pollution.  The Carmelit travels along a straight line, up and down Mt. Carmel.  There are 6 stations along the way each with access to tourist attractions.

1. Gan Ha’em (“Mother’s Garden”): The main station in the Carmel Center neighborhood is adjacent to the Haifa zoo, the Louis Promenade, the Haifa Auditorium, and many high-end shops, restaurants, sidewalk cafes and most of Haifa’s largest hotels.
2. Bnei Zion (“The Sons of Zion”) – named after the nearby Bnei Zion Hospital. The station was previously called “Golomb”. The station is conveniently located near the Bnei Zion (Rothschild) hospital and the offices of The Bahá’í World Center.
3. Massada, Upper Hadar: on Massada street with quaint art galleries, antique shops, cafes and restaurants. Close to the “Madatech” or the Haifa Science and Technology Museum located in the old Technion building opposite Nordau street.
4. Hanevi’im (“The Prophets”) in the Hadar Hacarmel neighborhood: Near Hanevi’im, Herzl and Hechalutz streets – a main shopping district. Close to the Haifa Museum.
5. Solel Boneh: near Hanevi’im tower, Ha’atzmaut Park, The Haifa City Hall and the municipal offices
6. Kikar Pariz (Paris Square), Downtown: near the new Haifa University Campus (Campus HaNamal), the government buildings (on Pal Yam street in the ‘missile building’) and the courthouse on Ha’atzmaut Street.  Kikar Pariz is also in walking distance to one of Haifa’s train stations – Haifa Central or HaShmona. The tax offices (meches) and the entrance to the port are close by.  The revamped and now trendy, Turkish Market buzzes on Thursday nights.  In summer local pubs and restaurants are packed with students and young people.  Craft markets, artists’ workshops and young Israeli designers are also selling their wares.
   

Carmelit train travel time

The Carmelit runs every 10-12 minutes and is the quickest way of getting from the Central Carmel to the Downtown area. It takes approximately 8 minutes to travel the entire line.

• How do you say public transport in Hebrew?
• Use these public transport resources to ensure you get from A-B

Wheelchair access

Unfortunately the Carmelit is not wheelchair or disabled friendly.  There are no ramps or elevators, only lots of stairs and one escalator going up at selected stations.

Tickets & fares

Children under the age of 5 travel for free as do IDF soldiers (in uniform) and the blind.

As at January 2017 the Carmelit was incorporated into the Haifa Metropolin public transport network. The Metropolin public transport network includes bus transport, Metronit transport and now the Carmelit.

Fares are as follows:-

Paying for your Carmelit ticket

It is very important to remember that the Carmelit was built to double as a public bomb shelter in the event of missile or rocket fire – a very safe place to seek shelter should it become necessary.

Our Petition

In August 2015, Anglo-List joined the campaign to fight for the rights of passengers of the Haifa underground – The Carmelit.  We petitioned the Haifa Municipality and the Ministry of Transport. We wanted the Rav Kav multi-transport ticketing system to include the Carmelit…

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Israel Public Transportation – Sheruts & Taxi Services

Hebrew: תחבורה ציבורית בישראל

The Sherut Service – Shared Taxi

Numerous taxi companies operate sheruts – a shared taxi with 10 passengers. They are a convenient and fast way to get around. In most cities they travel along the most popular routes. The sherut will leave its initial point of origin only when it has filled up with passengers – usually 10. Unlike buses, sheruts stop and let you off wherever you wish along a specific route. You can hail a sherut at a bus stop, or close to one, on the various designated routes.

There is a standard sherut fare.  Currently, the fare is 6 shekels.  Bus fare within the city is 5.90NIS

A special sherut service is available to Ben Gurion International Airport . The sherut will collect you, and your luggage, from your home, at a specified time.

The sherut rank at Ben Gurion Airport will take you to  almost any destination in Israel. The sherut will only depart from Ben Gurion when it is full. This may take a long time.  You have to be patient.

Sherut fares are standard and laid out by the Ministry of Transport.  On occasion, the taxi driver may ask the passengers if they are willing to share in the cost difference of the missing passengers, so that the sherut can leave straight away. This may add an additional 10 or 20 shekels to the regular fare but it is often worth it.

Just “Google” sherut from your location to Ben Gurion Airport for more information and a list of  taxi companies offering this service. They all speak English.

 Private Taxi Services to Ben Gurion Airport (Natbag)

There are many smaller, private individual, taxi and shuttle services who are  honest and offer reliable service, to and from Ben Gurion Ariport (Acronym NATBAG) and other destinations.  Do not confuse these  with a “special taxi” (explained below), operated by  the large taxi companies having fleets across the country.

• Haifa to/from Ben Gurion Airport
• Tel Aviv to/from Ben Gurion Airport

The Taxi Service – A “Special”

Taxi Fares in Israel

The metered rate starts at 11.50 ILS (this being the minimum rate as of March 2017).  The meter works on distance and on time.  If you have agreed upon a rate you can be sure that the taxi driver will drive fast, try to beat the traffic-lights and overtake wherever possible so that he can pick up another fare as soon as possible. Buckle up and pray you’ll make it to your destination!  If you have chosen the metered rate, the taxi driver will take his time, drive carefully, slow down wherever necessary and sit patiently behind the garbage truck so that that meter can continue to roll.

Whichever way you choose to pay, you have the right to ask the driver for a receipt, for the air conditioner to be turned on, to open or close the windows and change the radio station from some foreign language channel to the latest news broadcast.

• How to negotiate your taxi fare – use our guide with Hebrew, English and transliterations…

It is not our intention to put you off.  Israeli taxi drivers are generally very helpful.  They are often protective of teen-age children traveling without adult supervision.  The drivers may give the kids a discount if they are a little short of the full fare and will do there best to make sure that they get home safely late at night.

Cabs in Israel are always clean and in good working order.

The Gett Taxi App

Use the Gett taxi-app for taxi rides around the country.  Anglo-List does not promote one app over another or any public transport company, but we received this info from a kind reader – Alan – somewhere in Israel:

I just wanted to add something to the article:
If you hail a cab from the street, there should not be an additional 4.80 added to the final fare. Only the 11.50 starting price. 4.80 should only be added if your called to order a cab. Actually the way to work around that is by ordering through Gett during certain non-peak hours. (see Gett’s pricing schedule). I don’t work for Gett but I use it often and part of the reason is because it gives me recourse if they try to add charges that don’t belong. In a weeks time, I’ve had 3 different charges removed from my credit card. It really does work. The other thing about Gett is that if you enter the address, it will show up on the drivers phone and he has the option of using the GPS to take the route. Another thing I’ve done in the past to make sure that the driver stays on track in an area that I”m not familiar with is to enter the address on my phone and instruct the driver on the route that I’d like to take. All of these methods have saved me much money. Lastly, make sure to always as for the receipt. Even when using Gett. Gett will only refund a discrepancy when you email them a copy of the receipt. It’s also useful if you need to dispute the charge with the Taxi station or if you intend to take it to the Ministry of Transport. That’s it for now. I hope this information will help fellow cab riders. Thanks.

Laura & David reflect on taxi services:

We took a cab in the Sinai some years ago.  It was hot!  Seven people were crammed into an 8 seater Mercedes taxi and their luggage piled high (stretch limmo style, model year – circa ’70s).  They used to use those models in Israel too before they started using vans.  The windows were closed because of the dust. We asked the driver to switch on the air-conditioner so we could get some relief from the mid-day, mid-summer, Egyptian desert sun.  The driver responded by reaching into the glove compartment and said “Here is the air-conditioner” and he handed us the crank to open the window!

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Israel’s Bus Service; Egged, Dan, Superbus, Kavim, Golanbus…

The Israel bus service is served by 8 different bus companies with Egged and Dan being the most popular. Egged operates from North to South and Dan focuses on Tel Aviv and surrounding Dan region. The Israel bus service is reliable, on-time, runs frequently and connects to almost everywhere in Israel.

Israel’s major bus companies, offering services, are:

• Easy Hebrew lesson – learn words for transport and 100 other free word sheets. With English and transliterations

The Tel-Aviv Bus Service

Tel-Aviv is served by both the Egged and Dan bus services. Dan is the main bus company inside the city of Tel Aviv, and Egged is the main bus company outside of Tel Aviv. The Central Bus Station (Tachanah Merkazit), Azrielli and Tel-Aviv Central (Arlozorov/Savidor) are the three main bus stations in Tel Aviv.

Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station

Jerusalem is served by the Egged and Dan bus service. Urban and inter-city buses run to and from the Central Bus Station on Jaffa Rd. Many interurban buses leave from Zalman Shazar Blvd., across the street.

Haifa’s Central Bus Stations

Haifa is served by 6 different bus companies. The two main bus stations are the Carmel Beach Central Bus Station (Merkazit Hof Hacarmel) at the southern entrance to Haifa and the Haifa Bay Central Bus Station (Merkazit Hamifratz) at the northern entrance to Haifa at the “Checkpost”. Both are adjacent to train and Metronit stations. Haifa is a hub for public transportation and serves the entire north as far as Kiryat Shmona. The newly revamped bus station at Merkazit Hamifratz was opened in June 2018, and it was designed to transport more than 60,000 passengers daily.

The new cable car connecting Merkazit Hamifratz with the Technion and the University of Haifa is expected to be operational in the second half of 2021.

Bus Tickets & Fares

There no ticket purchase on the bus – all ticket purchases are made on the Rav Kav mult-transport, smart card at vending machines at the central bus stations, or selected ATMs or online.

You can purchases your route fares and pay by credit card at one of the vending machines or at the ticketing office.

RavKav app allows you to load fares on certain smartphone models only.

Single Journey

A regular one way fare (Heb: kartis), in most places, is 5.90 ILS. Incorporated into the fare is a 90 minute continuation ticket  (Heb: Kartis Ma’avar). It allows you to ride the bus as many times as you need within a 90 minute window. This is automatially loaded into your Rav Kav smart, transport card.

Bus fares between cities are determined by distance.

Multiple Bus Journeys

• A pre-paid season tickets (Kartisiya) allows you unlimited rides on routes within a predetermined zone or ‘ring’, where the regular bus fare is levied.  This is really an economical option if you are catching more than 2 buses a day.
• Student tickets cost half of the regular fare when purchased with the Rav-Kav
• A pensioner’s ticket is also available at a reduced rate with the Rav-Kav.
• Children under the age of 5, who do not occupy a seat, travel for free.
• Travel by bus, by train, light rail, Metronit or Carmelit underground in Haifa – a day pass allows you unlimited use of the transport system until 03:00am on the same day.

The Rav Kav (Multiple Journey Ticket)

In 2010,a  pre-paid magnetic smart card, the Rav Kav, was introduced for multiple rides and season tickets.  It can be purchased at any central bus station.  You will need to produce an identity document when purchasing the Rav Kav.  A digital photo of yourself will be processed onto the card (just like on your driver’s license). The Rav Kav is issued on the spot and your personal identification details are printed on the underside of the bus card.

Once you have paid, the fare is loaded and credited to the card.  Each time you use the bus, you swipe the Rav Kav card in the card reader and the appropriate  fare is deducted from the balance.

The inner-city fare for a single ride is valid for 90 minutes. This means you can get on and off the bus or public transport system (not including the train), an unlimited number of times  within a 90 minute window, and still only pay the ILS 5.90 fare.

A Rav Kav Anonimi  (an anonymous card which does not have your photograph) is available for a one time payment of 5 shekels. The Rav Kav Anonimi does not give you student, pensioners or other discounts.  The 90 minute transfer window applies.  This is an ideal solution for tourists. More…

School Bus Routes

Student routes are marked at the bus stop.  On one side of the sign it will say “STUDENTS” in English and on the other side it will say ‘talmidim’ in Hebrew – תלמידים

Panoramic Bus Tours in Jerusalem & Tel Aviv

The panoramic bus tour in Jerusalem (Bus no. 99) is the best way to see thescity.  The day-long excursion, on the open-top bus, allows you to hop-on and hop-off at various stops of public interest and tourist attractions.

Tel Aviv city tour invites you to a panoramic tour of Tel Aviv in a two story bus along the main sites of the city. There are 28 stops.

Transport tip:  Guided tours on the panoramic buses, are available in 8 different languages  Contact +972 3639 4444 (Tel Aviv) or +972 50 842 2473 (Jerusalem)

The Disabled & Wheelchair Bound

Inner city buses in Israel are wheelchair friendly and the bus driver is obligated to help any person who is wheelchair bound to get on and off the bus.  Buses are equipped with a ramp for easy wheelchair access that the driver has to engage.  Once the wheelchair has been positioned in the designated area of the bus, the driver will strap and lock the wheelchair into position.  When the passenger gets off the bus, the driver will perform the reverse operation.

A cute story

Circa 1990 – somewhere in Israel, a man gets on a bus and move towards a seemingly unoccupied seat next to an old lady. As he approaches, he sees her little dog sitting next to her on the seat. He asks the old lady, politely, to move the dog. She ignores him. He asks her again. She refuses and an argument ensues. Other passenger on the bus join in the argument. No one can agree on what should be done. They turn to the driver for a solution. The driver confirms that the lady bought a ticket for the dog. The dog is entitled to the seat. The passenger admits defeat, he sighs and looks for another place to sit.