Serving the Public

In the previous post I mentioned the crowded bus Saturday night. Now, you should know that it was the 11:30pm bus, the last bus home. Two buses leave for the Shomron at about the same time. The one which ends at Ariel, which goes into Shiloh and one whcih goes all the way up to Elon Moreh and doesn't go into Shiloh. Both stop in Ofra.

Both buses were painfully crowded with apssengers of all ages, including lots of young families with tiny babies and all their parafanalia. Egged, Israel's bus company, has a "law" forbidding the drivers to travel with passengers in the aisle.

"A seat for every passenger."

Now, that may sound nice in theory, but when there won't be another bus for another 6 or 7 hours, and no extra buses are to be sent out, it's cruel. Our bus driver was a mensch. There's no other word for it. The aisle was full of people before we left the Central Bus Station. Another driver poked his head in and warned ours that it was against regulations:

"Last week, 11:30pm, I left 15 people in Jerusalem when I went to Beit El."

Our driver wouldn't have any of it. At every single stop along the way he allowed desparate passengers in, and when the underneath storage area was full, he begged everyone to crowd themselves further back and make room for more passengers and their belongings.

It became like the ancient stories of Jerusalem during the Holiday pilgrimages. Somehow, miraculously, everyone got in. I think that the standing people didn't fall, since they just held each other up. There was no room to fall down.

That driver was truly wonderful, Baruch Hashem.