Genesis 21:23
Genesis 26:23
Genesis 28:10
(all our forefathers lived in Beer Sheva,
and they got places even without buses)
Art has
to move you and design does not, unless it’s a good design for a bus.
David
Hockney
It is not often
that I ride the buses of Beer Sheva. Though service is relatively good, and
prices are relatively cheap, a car is far more convenient. I take my daughter
and her friend to school every morning, pick them up three times a week, do
countless errands, and even find time to go to work; all with a car. Last week,
however, the husband needed the car to ferry around family members who were in
town to celebrate our daughter’s Bat Mitzva. So early in the morning, I walked
the 15 minutes to the bus stop, where a computerized clock told me exactly how
much time I had to wait for the bus (8 minutes). Once on the bus, each stop was
announced – in a deep and rather newscastery voice – twice. “Next stop, the
hospital”. Upon arrival at the stop, the disembodied yet distinguished voice would announce “The
hospital; Next stop, the emergency ward”. Etc. etc. I waited patiently for the
announcement “next stop, the University”.
Beer Sheva’s public
transport system has come a long way (no pun intended) since the British army
won the battle for the city on horseback in 1917.
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| Turkish army circa 1917 |
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| More modern transport - camels on the road to Beer Sheva |
Today, buses are
available to both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
every half hour. Trains run 24 hours a day to Tel Aviv, leaving every half hour
at peak times. Within the city itself, there are approximately 90 separate bus
lines intersecting the city and joining the various neighborhoods.
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| Beer Sheva's first bus, 1950ish |
In addition, about
three years ago, a decision was made by the mayor to build a new bus station.
Beer Sheva’s
mayor, Ruvik Danilovich, is a young, energetic, forward-thinking, ambitious
man. His many plans for the city include building a skate park, a beach front
(no actual sea, just the front), the largest amphitheater in the country, a
boating lake (not adjacent to the beach front), and restoring the old,
dilapidated, neglected Turkish areas of the city into tourist sites. To greet
the hordes expected to descend on the city when all these projects are
completed, (and some are already finished, while others are nearing completion)
Danilovitch understood that first, the city needed a new central bus station.
In truth, a new one was needed, even without all the grandiose plans, as the old
bus station, which sees tens of thousands of people a day, was built in the
1950s when Beer Sheva was a small immigrant town. Today, the Beer Sheva bus
station acts as a hub for all points north, south, east, and west in the
country, in addition to serving the nearly 200,000 residents of the growing
city.
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| Old bus station |
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| Old bus station |
So money was
collected, architects hired, and plans were drawn up. This being Israel ,
an added challenge was thrown in, just to make it interesting. It was decided
to build the new bus station in the exact spot of the old bus
station, without interfering with or rerouting the daily bus service. No
problem; the powers that be agreed to build the new station one bit at a time
and rope off small bits of the old bus station. The plan was approved, and
construction began. There was, however, one small hitch. Archeologists knew
that an old Byzantium town lay
underneath the station. So, under the direction of the Israel Antiquities
Authority, careful digging commenced. What was
unearthed was truly amazing. The remains of two churches and a Roman army camp
were discovered, along with dozens of underground rooms where hundreds of jars
and coins were found. It is speculated that the 1500-year-old town that was
revealed may be among the largest Byzantine towns found to date in the
Holyland.
 |
| some of the finds |
 |
| On display |
 |
| an air view of the excavations |
The excavations
took a little longer than expected, but with the help of archaeology students
from Ben-Gurion University, all that could be removed was removed, and all that
could be preserved was preserved, and work on the new bus station proceeded.
For two years, incoming
buses and passengers had to detour somewhat around construction works. Dust
filled the air so that travelers had a hard time breathing. Road renovations
brought traffic to daily gridlocks. Undeterred, the project advanced.
The other day,
when I had to take the bus to work so the husband could have the car, I
deliberately took a different bus home so that I could visit the almost
finished, newly renovated, Beer Sheva Central Bus Station.
From the outside,
it’s still a mess. Dust and rubble are everywhere. Urban buses still stop in
temporary stations, so chaos abounded, as travelers searched for the correct station.
The biggest complaint, however, was not having to search for the right stop, or
running through mud and dirt, or almost getting hit by a bus as they make
U-turns in the middle of the road. The only complaint I heard was that there
were no benches available to sit while waiting for your bus to arrive.
Really, that was the problem??
Inside the bus
station, however, was a different world. First, there were benches to sit on
while you wait for your inter-city bus. Second, there was a floor. A nice tiled,
almost clean, floor. Third, there was a roof over your head to protect you from
rain the winter (even in Beer Sheva it’s been known to rain) and the sun in the
summer. A glass wall (probably reinforced glass due to security considerations)
has been installed between the benches and the incoming buses to stop exhaust
fumes from bothering patrons.
 |
| Inside the bus station |
The doors to the buses do not open from the
outside, so you can’t enter the station that way. And, Israelis being Israelis,
they have trouble waiting patiently on the new benches for their buses to come,
so dozens were outside waiting on the platforms, unable to get back in.
New shops, fast
food places, lovely bakeries and coffee shops have opened inside the station,
but most of the old places have also been kept. These have all received a
substantial facelift, with new floors, ceilings, and lighting. It was a rather
surreal experience to see that Shmulik, the ancient tattoo artist, has had his
decrepit, filthy ‘parlor’ outfitted with modern wooden floors, floor to ceiling
glass walls, and white lights (better to see his artwork).
As it was a Sunday
afternoon, the station was full of soldiers returning to their base. I love
watching the soldiers, and trying to discern to which unit they belong. Most
keep strictly with their ‘own kind’; the air force with the air force,
paratroopers with paratroopers, etc. etc. But not always, and at one stop I was
lucky enough to catch a hug between a paratrooper (scarlet beret0 and a soldier
from Givati (purple beret) while a Golanchik (brown beret) and a NaChal soldier
(bright green) looked on. Further on, there were several army engineers (silver)
drinking cokes and smiling at the hugging group.
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| This is the original picture - just coincidence that my son has a purple Givati beret |
Soldiers, tattoo
artists, and impatient, locked-out travelers are found in all Israeli, and maybe the world, bus stations.
What makes the new Beer Sheva Central Bus Station unique is that it is the only
bus station in the world — here, I’m presuming – that comprises a 1500-year-old
Byzantium bus station in the middle
of it. The artifacts discovered in the dig will eventually be on display, but
in the meantime, beneath see-through floors, glimpses of the Byzantine
buildings can be seen.
Beer Sheva was
first settled, according to the Bible, about 4000 years ago by Avraham Avinu.
Indeed, archaeological finds outside the city testify to this. After the wars of
King David, Beer Sheva was the southernmost city in Land
of Israel
The Byzantines
were the last to live here, abandoning the town in the face of the Arab
conquest during the 7th century. The area was deserted until the
late 19th century, when the Turkish Ottomans, with German help,
built another administrative center complete with a train station, but no
roads. Under the British mandate, the town had approximately 5000 residents,
and no bus station.
It was only with
the return of Jewish sovereignty that Beer Sheva flourished, and built a bus
station.
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