Sunday, February 05, 2006

FREE MARKET SOLUTION TO BUS ATTACKS

News Item:

A 60-year-old woman was killed Sunday morning when an Israeli Arab stabbed five Israelis in a service taxi in Petah Tiqwa.

Magen David Adom paramedics evacuated the woman to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, where she succumbed to her wounds.

Four other passengers were wounded in the incident. Two men in their 30s were listed in very serious and serious condition, while two other people were in moderate condition.

The 23-year-old attacker reportedly boarded the taxi in Petah Tiqwa. When it stopped near the Ossem factory on Rehov Jabotinsky, he pulled out a knife and began "wildly" stabbing the other passengers, eyewitnesses said.

Several passersby and workers from the factory surrounded the stabber, beat him with wooden planks, and restrained him. The man was taken into police custody and interrogated.

Police said that his motive appeared to be nationalistic.


What a pity that the State of Israel doesn't have the time, resources or manpower to deal with "minor attacks" such as this one. They simply don't have the personnel. The Israeli police are too busy galloping across the Samaritan hills, imposing law and order in the "lawless" Shomron, beating up unkempt settler children who want to live on unoccupied hilltops and raise goats.

Then, there's the matter of those vigilante passers-by who beat the alleged attacker with wooden planks. What sort of thing is that? It seems that even the staid citizens of Petah Tiqwa are becoming a bunch of wild-eyed anarchists as the state throws itself into the business of naked oppression at the expense of its alleged raison d'etre, keeping of the peace.

It would all be quite funny if someone's savta weren't lying dead in Petah Tiqwa.

So, how do we help prevent future attacks of this sort?

The answer is: allow individuals and companies to discriminate. The bus or cab driver is the first line of defense against terror attacks. He must be allowed to refuse any suspicious-looking fare, even if "suspicious" means looking "too Arabesque." Companies known to discriminate well will find themselves in great demand. Companies which habitually pass up our Yemenite and Sephardic brothers, fearing that they are "terrorists," will find themselves shunned by these communities. Very quickly, drivers will develop a keener eye. If not, other companies will enter the fray with drivers more adept at differentiating between wild-eyed Moslems and our darker complected brothers.

Another line of defense is to stop accepting cash fares on buses and sherut taxis. Accept only pre-paid tickets. This puts part of the responsibility for screening upon the cashier who can speak to the customer, detect a suspicious accent and request some sort of reliable ID (not necessarily a state-issued one). Tickets might also be purchased from automatic vending machines with pre-paid magnetic cards which could double as picture ID cards. Again, such pre-paid cards would be available only from trained cashiers.

Even our leftist friends, who wring their hands in concern over the transportation needs of the Arab community, might find these solutions interesting. After all, under a completely free market in public transportation, Arab drivers and companies could concentrate upon servicing the special needs of their communities -- even passing up us "sons-of-pigs-and-monkeys" if they so choose.

If Israeli public transportation were opened up to unlimited competition and the restrictions against discrimination lifted, we would very quickly find that we had safer, cheaper, and more responsive PT alternatives. Most importantly, we'd have fewer dead grandmothers on our cities' streets.

1 comment:

Hadassa DeYoung said...

Oh, look. Someone took my advice.

No need to credit yours truly with the idea.

But are they going to be available to "safe citizens" only? Are they going to be the only means of paying for a trip on PT? Let's hope so.

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New 'smart card' system to give bus riders 20% off
Rory Kress
THE JERUSALEM POST
Aug. 20, 2007

Starting next Tuesday, customers of the Kavim bus company will be able to get 20 percent off their fare in six Dan region communities by using the new RavKav "smart card."

The RavKav, which will be electronically rechargeable and reusable, will be available for purchase and use next week in Petah Tikva, Kiryat Ono, Yehud, Neveh Monoson, Or Yehuda and Savyon. Approximately 300 bus routes serving more than 250,000 residents will be affected by the change.

In about a month, the RavKav system will be introduced in Nazareth, Hadera, Netanya, Safed, Nahariya, and between Netanya and Tel Aviv, on buses operated by the Sherutei Autobusim Mehuhadim, Nesiot Vetayarut and Nativ Express companies.

The Connex company will start to use the system in approximately two months on all its lines in Ashdod, Tiberius, and Modi'in, and starting in January the RavKav is expected to be in use on Metropoline buses running between Beersheba and Tel Aviv.

Dan, Egged-Ta'avura, SuperBus and Elite will not start using the RavKav until August 2008, and sometime after that it will be introduced by Egged and the remaining private bus companies

The smart card will eventually be used on trains and, once it commences operations, on the Jerusalem Light Rail as well.

RavKav will display the photograph of the passenger. In case of loss or theft, the remaining balance will be transferable to a new card.

The RavKav will be available for sale in bus stations, malls and other authorized shops. To sign up, the passenger will present an identification card, authorization for a discount (senior, youth, etc.) if eligible, fill out a form and have a picture taken.