A difficult public? • 'Eggad' claims: "The boys cursed and hit" - Passenger: The response is false

October 28, 2014   

 Following the publication in Haredim10 about an Egged driver who attacked his Haredi passengers, Egged conducted an investigation to investigate the affair.

As you may recall, on Sunday we published the incident that occurred on the bus line from Zissim to Jerusalem, during a busy afternoon, when due to the opening of 'winter time' in yeshivahs, the congestion increased even more, but the Agad refused to send out another bus.

Several young men who didn't have room on the bus blocked his path and demanded that the inspector who was there send out another bus, but he claimed "that from Egged's perspective, this is a normal day in every way.".

The bus driver began shouting at the bus passengers and claimed: "You are a difficult group, no wonder no one wants to work with you.".

As stated, following the publication, an investigation was conducted at Agad, and the following is the response from company spokesman Ron Ratner, as provided to Haredim10: 

""An investigation conducted indicates that the driver of the bus in question was full of passengers, including 10 Standing passengers. According to traffic regulations, a public bus is prohibited from carrying more than 10 standing passengers on an intercity trip.

""Egged, as a law-abiding company, requires its drivers to be careful when driving. According to the driver, the yeshiva students who were waiting and were not allowed to board the bus because it was full prevented it from starting the journey and caused unnecessary delay for all passengers.".

""His explanations that it was full with 10 standing passengers and that he was prohibited by law from taking on additional passengers were of no use. The boys blocked the road, cursed at the driver, and even hit the driver on the hand. They threatened him that until another bus arrived they would not let him drive.".

The spokesman added: "The words that were quoted, supposedly said by the driver, do not in any way express Egged's position, and no one was caught in the act of anger.".

The agency does not explain why they did not send another bus, despite the heavy traffic at the stations.

בעקבות תגובת אגד - אומר  ד'א', אחד מנוסעי האוטובוס, לחרדים10: "אף אחד לא היכה את הנהג. מישהו אחד רק הרים את היד, אבל לא הנחית. כל הבעיה נוצרה כי לא היה מקום בתא המטען. אז נוסעים עם מזוודות לא יכלו לעלות, כי לא הרשו להעלות מזוודות לאוטובוס. "בתחנה המדוברת 'האירוסים/ התמר', שזאת התחנה שבה ירדו בחורים לכביש וחסמו את האוטובוס, עדיין היו מקומות ישיבה פנויים - וודאי שלא עמדו 10 נוסעים. המקום לידי היה פנוי. "עובדה שכשהפקח הגיע, הוא העלה לפחות עוד חמישה בחורים. ואם ככה, לפי אגד הוא העלה נוסעים מעל המותר בחוק?! ואף בתחנה שאחרי עלו שתי נוסעות נוספות שהיה להן מקום ישיבה".

The head of the council in Rechsim, Yitzhak Reich, responded to the comments in a conversation with Haredim10: "On a day like this, there is a large public of travelers, especially yeshiva students who leave the city. It is definitely not like a normal day. To this day, every time Egged opens, the number of buses has increased to meet the needs.".