In late December, the Tel Aviv municipality turned a lane on Kaplan Street into a bus lane. Kaplan Street begins at Hashalom Interchange (Azrieli Center) and cuts westwards between the Kirya army headquarters to the north and Sarona to the south. The municipality reported yesterday that the lane shortens travel time for bus passengers by 20-30 minutes. 50 buses an hour travel on the street in each direction at peak times, and a total of 1,100 buses a day in both directions.
As part of its planning and execution of the project, the municipality monitored travel times for cars and buses. It found that after the bus lane was opened, the speed of the journey and the average travel time during rush hours improved substantially all along the street. The travel time range is now 5-8 minutes.
The municipality said that the large amount of time saved for the existing buses at peak time (15-25% of the total travel time on the various routes), has enabled the Ministry of Transport to streamline public transport in the area, and to make routes more frequent, with better service. Starting in March 2020, service on Kaplan Street will be stepped up considerably, and new routes will be added that will improve the link with southeastern Tel Aviv and bolster travel on crowded bus routes passing along the street.
Tel Aviv's 54 kilometers of bus lanes make it Israel's leading city in this respect, and the only one in which the municipality takes regular enforcement measures using cameras and inspectors. The main bus lanes in the Tel Aviv city center are on Namir Street, Ibn Gvirol Street, King George Street, Allenby Street, Jaffa Street, Salame Street, and HaAliya Street. Bus lanes were recently introduced on Shalavim Street, Yefet Street, Lavon Street, and Ben Zvi Street. The municipality is now considering allocating additional lanes for public transport in the near future. The next step will be to open a bus lane on Shaul Hamelech Street. Many buses serving passengers from other cities, such as Petah Tikva and Kfar Saba, travel on this street to a large business center, and to Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital).
