Jaunts and Jollifications (Various)

Jerusalem Jaunt - a P.S.

Needless to say, in today's high tech age, fbb could not find a timetable anywhere fro the Jerusalem tram system, a k a Light Rail. Journey planner - yes; day-by-day frequency guide - yes; timetable - no way, oi veh!

Things to note:- the system shuts down completely for the Jewish Sabbath which runs from sunset on Friday to sunset of Saturday. Also; every 14.5 minutes? Completely un-memorable, surely a simple every 15 minutes would make more sense to potential passengers, especially if they have a tight connection for an onward journey.

No 1 son sent this picture of a tram stop ticket machine.

The basic paper ticket fare is ...

... 5.9 nis (New Israeli Shekels) with a shekel being 20p. Effectively a flat fare on £1.20 but with transfers allowed within a set time period. Cheap as chips!

The discount, however, only appears to be available on a Rav Kav (stored value) card, as do discounts for multiple tickets.

The web site explains come of this, and warn the user about the need to validate tickets on boarding the tram.

Failure to validate incurs an instant fine of 118 nis, issued by aggressive and unforgiving transport police.

It is easy to forget top validate on a crowded tram and vociferous complains have been laid at the door of the operator impugning their motives, suggesting that the whole fines system is just a way of increasing revenue.

Didn't First Bus once advertise their "standard fare" as £10, which would be charged if the hapless passenger offended in any way by inadvertently (of maybe vertently) paying the wrong amount?

Jurassic Jaunt

Remember those Jurassic Coaster buses in green ...

... being ex First Bus Green Line deckers from Slough.

These buses are now appearing in a real Jurassic Coaster livery and they do look rather smart.

The route is but a shadow of its former self (once Exeter to Bournemouth) but the branding is a positive step. Sadly, the posh new scheme is still not universally applied - which probably means its impact will not stimulate ridership for this summer season.

£12 for a day rover is a bit rich, only suitable for the rich; but £20 for a party of 5 is laughably cheap. Odd pricing strategy, perhaps?

Jaffa Cake Jaunt

No 2 grandson (aged 14) has just spent a few days with the old crusties. Taken by a parent from Wantage to Andover, he has become very familiar with the journey which is relieved via his "device" and the purchase of a packet of Jaffa Cakes.

These used to be £1.20 for a pack of three, that's eight bob a biscuit in real money.

Now you have to buy four (shock horror) ...

... and they coast £1.50; a significant saving per piece at seven and a tanner each. But, as No 2 grandson points out, that's OK if you want four - AND the packaging is grossly inferior with no inner sleeve. Shameful.

Co-incidentally, dad had sent fbb a picture of the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem ...

... somewhat amended by the imaginative 14 year old.

Sadly the youngster showed no interest whatsoever in the stunning fact that he arrived at Axminster in a uniquely liveried train.

No sense of, like, occasion - the youth of today

Junior's Jolly Jammy** Jaunt

A tradition of the family (two grandson, son and daughter-in-law) is to visit to Sidmouth to buy yummy snacks. Having been berated by a really nasty comment on a recent blog because he had used the work Moslem rather than Muslim, fbb was interested in a family snack trip by motor bus.

(For the record Moslem and Muslim are both acceptable versions of the appellation for a follower of the Islam faith. Neither has any political, religious or racialist connotations BUT Moslem is just a bit old-fashioned, just like fbb)

Anyway, the outward Jaunt was by Stagecoach service 9A which ran 23 minutes late due to traffic in Lyme Regis. At each stop the driver apologised for the delay and when the gang alighted at Sidmouth ...

... he thanked everyone for their patience. EXCELLENT customer service. He also charged No 2 grandson £2 instead of £2.40 because he had run out of change. EXCELLENT customer service.

The terminus st Sidmouth Triangle is provided with a really useful electronic display ...

... a VDU screen  of unhelpful legibility. Now the old dot matrix versions were visible - so much for new technology.

Sidmouth was famously festooned with floral fragrance ...

... some paid-for publicly, some provided by a pub but pretty as a picture both.

After the Moslem/Muslim unkindness, fbb was very pleased that his snack was to be obtained at a purveyor of doughnuts ...

...complete with hot doughnut machine.

At only about three million calories a nut (actually a ring), the snack was well worth the journey. Sadly they were served in a bag marked "Do-Nuts".

The bus ride back was the twiddly way with Axe Valley ...

Sadly (again) the fit and vibrant grandson fell asleep at the best bit - no sense of, like, occasion - the youth of today.

Fare with Axe Valley, £2.90 and no reduction for lack of change. But the trip was spot on time!

** Of course, they were snack sized ring doughnuts, dusted in sugar ...

... but super yummy all the same!

Today the Sidmouth Folk Festival gets under way. Over 80 activities and events in just over a week. Worth a visit, but go by bus or use the Park and Ride. The town itself will be, to use a technical term, full.

That shelter (above, upper right) is where buses used to terminate; at the western end of the esplanade.

Time For a Re-Think - P.S.

Common sense prevails - eventually; after two days in which to alienate passengers. Let us hope that the pen-pusher who caused this unnecessary mess is pushing his or her pen at the desk in the JobCentre!

 Next signal box blog : Saturday 4th August 

Jaunt to Jerusalem (2)

After passing near the famous Damascus Gate, Jerusalem's tram line (light railway line) veers right into Jaffa Street ...

... with its name in Hebrew, Arabic and English, indicative of the multi cultural tensions that exist there. Historically, Jaffa Street was the ancient road that led to Jaffa (wowsers!), Joppa in the Bible. Jaffa/Joppa is now a relatively insignificant suburb of  Tel Aviv ...

... but is the brand name of a marketing syndicate that exports oranges! Even oranges have been used politically.

Very sad.

As part of the Red Line tram plans, Jaffa Street, the main shopping and civic thoroughfare in Jerusalem was made tram only! Imagine London being brave enough to do that with Oxford Street - no cars, no buses, no lorries - just trams!

This impressed No 1 son no end; he felt it made the centre of Jerusalem "a very pleasant place" ...

... "and very quiet". Definitely NOT Oxford Street nowadays.

The busy King George Street crosses at right angles ...

... with plenty pf noise, buses and other traffic. Ki'akh Street is similar ...

... and there are odd bits of Jaffa Street where one way traffic is allowed for access, but generally right through the city centre, trams reign supreme.

Total isolation returns to reserved track and junction priority as "Central Station" is approached. And there are no trains in this impressive station.

The departure stands for the buses are on the third floor!

But railway will appear nearby - actually it won't appear as it will be underground. Here the street level building for the Jerusalem station on the brand new high speed line to Tel Aviv is taking shape - or was when Streetview was around.

The first section was due to open later this year, but is delayed. (Sounds familiar?); but it does have some spectacular engineering as here with the Ayalon Valley Bridge.

It is spectacular engineering that now greets tram route "red".

From the stations, trams need to turn due south and cross a major road intersection.

It starts innocuously enough ...

... but then bursts into engineering magnificence.

It is all held up by that one "pole" and lots of bits of string ...

... seen here looking back towards the stations. From here the rest of the line is, frankly, ordinary by comparison.

The line terminates at Mount Hertzl station ...

... with a lengthy head shunt as at the northern terminus - all nicely ready for the extensions.

Back at the terminus stop, there is one last surprise.

The car park for the Park and Ride is ...

... underneath the road on which the tram station is situated, with entrance/exit points on two levels.

Check out the red sculptural "thing" in the various pictures and the lift shafts down to the parking below from the tram platforms!

Tomorrow, as part of a "mixed bag" we will take a quick look at tickets and timetables.

 Next Jaunts Various blog : Thursday 2nd August 

Jaunt to Jerusalem (1)

No 1 son has just returned from a speaking engagement in Israel. To titillate his father's fancy, the lad send a few photos of the city's tramway system, a k a Jerusalem light rail. Before we take a look we need to remember that Jerusalem is a divided City; divided religiously (Moslem, Jewish, Christian), divided politically (Jew, Arab) and divided linguistically (English, Hebrew, Arabic).

The rights and wrongs of these tensions are not an appropriate discussion for a public transport blog, but wherever you go, they are there.

"Not pleasant, but you do get used to it", fbb was told.

City buses are green and run by Egged as is much of the rest of Israel.

Traffic in the city is horrendous, exacerbated by the huge number of tourists. Here tourist coaches are parked near the Garden of Gethsemane and way off into the distance..

In the 1990s, the city authorities decided that a rapid transit network was the solution to pollution, traffic and the steady decline of some parts of the city centre. Three "light rail" routes are planned, the first of which is now open. Work began in 2002 and the line opened in 2011.

A word of warning; because of the Arab/Israeli "divisions", names can appear in their Hebrew version, their Arab version, their English version or any combination of all three.

We will join the line at its current northern terminus, courtesy of Google Streetview. At Heil Ha'avir in the north ...

... trams tun forward some distance from the current terminus ...

... into a long "headshunt" from which an extension is in the development and contracts stage.

Almost all of the line in on "reserved track" with traffic light priority at junctions, a system which didn't work properly in the early days leading to a temporary and very slow timetable. (Sounds familiar??).

For those of us used to tourist pictures of Jerusalem or even the Biblical accounts, it comes as some surprise to realise how small the ancient city was ...

... with that grey blob (upper right) being the old bit, with a few Biblical sites "without the City wall"!

 The tram route just grazes the Old City near the Damascus Gate (blue blob, centre right).

Somewhere behind the tram, beyond the terrifying traffic and partially below road level is that (in)famous entrance to the city.

When Paul left Jerusalem to arrest what eventually became known as Christians, he would have exited this way ...

... but not through the big gateway. That was built by Ottoman dictator Suleman the Magnificent (in 1537) ...

... he of the hyper-hat. Perhaps he was only four feet tall and needed the mega headgear to be spotted in a crowd!

Recent excavations have revealed a Roman gateway at a lower level again, if not the actual Pauline egress, certainly something very much like it. Opposite the Damascus Gate and up the old Nablus Road ...

... (note the profusion of tourist grot) is the (likely) site of the Garden Tomb from which Jesus rose, as celebrated on our Easter Sunday.

No 1 son paid a visit and pronounced the experience as very moving.

Talking of moving, over the back fence of the tomb's garden ...

... is one of several out-of-town bus terminals. Here is a 263 turning in from Sultan Suleman Street.

This is called "The Arab" bus station and the 263 will take you north to Bethany whence you can change to a shared taxi for the journey on to Jericho.

At Tsahal Square, the tram tracks veer right to travel along Jaffa Street.

We will conclude this brief excursion tomorrow as the trams travel roughly westwards.

Meanwhile, in passing, herewith a map showing planned extensions to the red line and the proposed green line for which companies have been invited to tender.

And immediately the press has picked up on the touchy politics of the city.

An international tender to build and operate Jerusalem’s second light rail line is failing to draw bids from overseas companies, which are fearful of arousing political opposition back at home because the proposed line runs into parts of the city seized by Israel in the 1967 war.

Israeli government officials say they have been told that the most problematic parts of the proposed Green Line – a project that could cost as much as 5 billion shekels ($1.4 billion) and stretch along 22 kilometers – are the ones that reach Mount Scopus and Gilo.

Mount Scopus, the site of the main Hebrew University campus, was controlled by Israel before the Six-Day War as an isolated outpost. But Israel subsequently annexed land between it and West Jerusalem. Gilo, a neighborhood in the city’s south, was annexed along with other areas of East Jerusalem shortly after the war.

Tomorrow we stick to the trams!

 Next Jerusalem Jaunt blog : Wednesday 1st August