Good news for public transportation passengers: The Ministry of Transportation has ordered the Citypass company to stop fining passengers on the Jerusalem light rail who paid for their trip with another person's Rav Kav ticket.
In doing so, the Ministry of Transportation responded to a request from MK Uri Maklev, who detailed the erroneous legal interpretation of 'STEPS', which led to the collection of significant fines that harmed the traveling public.
All public transportation operators do not charge passengers for paying with another person's Rav Kav, except for the light rail - where high fines were imposed on passengers who charged their trip with another person's Rav Kav, even though they paid for the trip using the Rav Kav card.
In recent years, MK Maklev's office has received thousands of public inquiries and complaints about fines imposed on innocent passengers on the light rail, only because they paid for the trip in good faith and were fined while being treated humiliatingly by light rail inspectors and in an unpleasant situation that often ended in a police investigation.
A significant portion of those fines were due to what was defined as a payment with another person's 'multi-line' card.
According to the Maklev Bureau, the Cityps company claimed at the time that by law they were responsible for collecting the fine in question, but the United Torah Judaism MK was able, with the assistance of lawyers, to prove that this was a misinterpretation.
In light of the MK's request, the Ministry of Transportation's legal advisors also determined that there is no reason to impose these fines.
""Given the existing gaps between the various public transportation operators regarding the manner of implementing the Ministry of Transportation's directive and in light of the fact that the law regulating the use of multi-line tickets has not yet entered into force, we have ordered Citypass to allow travel on another's multi-line tickets, provided that it is a ticket without a discount and with the same profile or personal periodic ticket," the Ministry of Transportation said in a statement.
This guidance will be in effect until the bill regarding the operation of the 'Rav Kav' systems is approved. The government bill memorandum that has already been distributed is intended to regulate in law the entire issue of operating the 'Rav Kav' card, and this issue will also be included in it.
""The Ministry of Transportation's announcement is a welcome step that should have been taken a long time ago. Innocent passengers on the light rail were fined for no wrongdoing and 'earned' humiliating treatment from the inspectors and unpleasant and contemptuous treatment," says Maklev.
In contrast to the Maklev Bureau's announcement, the CityPass company claims that it was the one who requested the change. The announcement it released today reads: "Apparently there is no limit to cynicism. The real picture is completely the opposite. CityPass is the one that approached the Ministry of Transportation to regulate the lack of uniformity in enforcing the ban on using another person's multiple lane.".
The Maklev office responded: "There is no limit to the cynicism of 'Sitpass', which has disparaged and continues to disparage passengers. The documents prove the long-standing correspondence and discussions with the Ministry of Transportation, despite the light rail's insistence on continuing the fines policy.".
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