This weekend, Ness Ziona will become the thirteenth Israeli municipality or local authority to offer public transport services and provide free rides to and from the city on Shabbat. Last month, Mevasseret Zion introduced a free Shabbat bus service to Tel Aviv. As more and more cities run Shabbat bus services on Friday nights and Saturdays, more people can visit family, access services they need, and enjoy their weekend in the way that they choose.

Israel Hofsheet (Be Free Israel) Executive Director Uri Keidar said, “The fact is that, only five years ago, this seemed like a distant dream, and it is now a service that can be enjoyed by more than 1.5 million Israelis. These bus services prov e that the Israeli public has the power to lead huge changes, and that the local authorities are an excellent place in which to do so.”

An estimated more than 45,000 passengers use these services each Shabbat in central Israel alone. Many municipalities and local authorities are still not operating these services even though most of their residents are secular or traditional and not Orthodox.