Sunday, May 04, 2014

Annoyed at the Jerusalem Bus Station

I don't go to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station aka CBS very often for various reasons. One is that I can pick up the bus to Shiloh  in other parts of Jerusalem. Another is that when possible I try to save money and tremp, meaning get a ride or hitchhike. 

Though I did go the other day, mostly because I needed to fill my "ravkav" prepaid bus/lightrail pass with more rides. I can get those at the bus station by paying with my credit card, saving me cash and the inconvenience of having to deal with money and change when traveling to and from work. 

When I got there, I saw that two out of three pay stations were closed, and there was a long line for the only open one.




This was very annoying. It also blocked access to the buses, so people kept breaking through to catch their bus.

I got to the back of the line and rushed forward when another opened. One woman was ahead, but she needed such complicated help it took almost as long as if I hadn't gotten on the newly opened one. At least the clerk was pleasant, and I had the time. Some of those clerks are awfully nasty. If I would treat my customers like they do, I'd be fired in a jiffy.

6 comments:

Tzivia in Aliyahland said...

ArkOy! I really dislike lining up there. But can't either a bus driver or the machines on the light rail platform fill up your Rav Kav??? I'm have a problem with my card; it shows 10 light rail fares remaining, but on the actual train, it says zero. Dread having to go in there to fix it...

Tzivia said...

Argh; my tablet has a mind of its own and decided to add "Ark" at the beginning (it was part of the code words I had to type to verify that I was not a robot).

goyisherebbe said...

Rav Kav doesn't give you the sum of all the kartisiyot that you have on your card. Say you have three rides left and you load another 10 or 20. It will not tell you the total. If you ask the driver on a bus to do it, he will give you a printout of what you have. And yes, a bus driver or a light rail station ticket machine can load your card.

Batya said...

Yes it gets complicated. Sometimes the train does not open a new set but the bus will. You can find yourself using a few simultaneously.
I keep little cash so need to fill with creditcard.

Shelly said...

You can use a credit card at any trains stop.

Batya said...

Shelly, that's for local buses only, right? I need the Jerusalem to Shiloh route, too.