A subway would be preferable
By Haaretz Service
The awarding of the Tel Aviv light rail tender to the MTS group, headed by
Africa Israel, ostensibly heralds a new age of transportation. In practice, the
company faces many obstacles. Above all, it will have to prove - possibly in
court - that the massive tunneling that its construction method entails will
not damage groundwater resources. Afterward, it will have to cope with the
planning agencies of five different local authorities and the challenges of
funding a complex project. At the same time, it will be forced to prove that
its passenger cars are suitable. Construction will take several years, during
which time the region's main traffic arteries will be adversely affected.
Despite these difficulties, we welcome the fact that the plan for the mass
transit project has finally been launched. The plan, which began when Golda
Meir was prime minister, was revived and given priority during Yitzhak Rabin's
term and was shepherded through the advanced planning stages by then finance
minister Avraham Shochat.
The plan, which was developed by Metropolitan Mass Transit System (NTA),
formerly the Tel Aviv Rail Administration, presents a much greater challenge.
At first, there was talk of building a subway similar to those operating in
cities around the world. The advantages of this type of system include
unlimited right of way (underground routes that avoid above-ground traffic
signals, jams and other vehicles), large passenger capacity (due to size,
speed, closely-spaced stations and high frequency of travel), and minimum
environmental impact.
After Rabin's murder in 1995 and the political changes it engendered, all
successive Israeli governments have been wary of spending the enormous amount
required to build a subway. Africa Israel is now taking on a patchwork,
compromise project: a train that will run only partially underground - and,
unusually, not in the city center but rather in intercity stretches. Most of
the train's route will be on the surface, where it will not have the benefits
of speed, high capacity or the right of way.
For now, only the project's Red Line, connecting Petah Tikva, Bnei Brak, Ramat
Gan and Jaffa-Tel Aviv, to Bat Yam, has been approved. This will reduce road
traffic but is not part of the future traffic network (which remains undefined)
and does not offer a solution to transport in the center of Tel Aviv.
An effective transit system is critical in Tel Aviv, to open up the traffic
blockages that exact a high economic price in Israel's urban center. Following
the impressive development of Israel Railways, ridership has increased from 4
million to 20 million passengers a year in the past eight years. Car owners
have willingly left their cars behind. It is not too late for Tel Aviv. There
is still time to consider building a subway, and to plan a multi-branch
underground system whose speed and convenience will encourage more people to
give up their cars within the city as well. The underground rail system could
still change from being merely a means of transport into the agent of historic,
transportational and economic change.