A nighttime drama near the Palestinian village in the territories: A driver who was placed on the wrong line and understood that he had to return to Jerusalem, decided to let the passengers off and leave them alone at the entrance to the village of Hussan. The result was not long in coming when one of the passengers recently sued the ‘Kavim’ Company for NIS 30,000, MyNet reports.
The unusual event took place about three weeks ago, when dozens of passengers on line 290 of the Kavim Company on their way to Betar Illit found themselves in an impossible situation, when the driver asked them to exit the bus near the Palestinian village.
The driver’s explanation was no less astonishing and outrageous: he understood during the trip that he had been placed on the wrong line and had to return to Jerusalem.
The tough questions:
• How was the driver on the wrong line?
• Why did he make them get off near Hussan and not at their original destination?
• Why didn’t he wait until another bus arrived?
What makes the incident even worse is the fact that it occurred at night and the passengers were left alone near the village at 11:40PM, until another vehicle arrived and picked them up. In this village, it should be noted, there was an attempt to lynch a Jew about five years ago, passenger Avraham Ronis explained in a statement filed last week with his wife, who recounts the traumatic experience they underwent.
“After we crossed the checkpoint and headed for Route 375, next to the back entrance of the village of Hussan, the driver stopped the bus and did not answer our questions … My wife was pregnant, and I saw that she was getting into a trauma. He understood that he must address us.
“Finally, the driver explained to us that he had made a mistake in the line and therefore did not continue to Betar Illit and asked us to get off at the entrance to Hussan and another driver would arrive”.
Despite the protests, the frightened passengers had no choice but, according to Ronis, they had to wait in the dark, late at night, close to the Arab village. Another bus arrived a few minutes later and took them to their destination.
The bus company reported that their response would be given in court.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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9 Responses
Just don’t get off. Or call the police.
MISSING INFO HERE. FIRST THING WOULD BE TO CALL POLICE. EVERYONE IS PHONE CONNECTED TODAY…
I would’ve stayed on the bus.
FYI the entrance to Betar is the same place on the other side of a turning circle
with a guard booth 100 feet away and an Army base
so while not taking them to their paid for destination is a big issue
i do not think there is much the the claim of dropping them off at the “entrance to Hussan”
If a few minutes is worth NIS 30,000, I bet some of the passengers wished it has taken a little longer for the replacement bus to arrive! Really Rabbi Ronis, you are not in America, NIS 30,000 indeed. Why didn’t one of the passengers call the police? There is an army base about four minutes drive away at the entrance to Beitar (yes they were that close) and the army checkpoint on the Gush Ezion road is a two minute drive away.
the men on the bus should have forced him to continue the trip.-
thegreatfixer: Rubbish! It’s at least a kilometer from the checkpoint. If this moron would have dropped off his passengers at the gas station, that is 100 feet from the checkpoint & would be perfectly safe. But the entrance to Hussan? Area A?? At night? That’s a sekana.
But… I definitely agree, they should have refused to get off the bus & called for help. Suing the bus company is ridiculous. Firing the driver is a good idea for endangering his passengers.
1. Husan has 2 entrances. One is across the street from Beitar, but the other entrance is 1-2 km away from Beitar and a long walk especially at night.
2. Cell phone service in that whole area is very spotty, so while people might have attempted to call the moked or the police, it is certainly possible that there was no service.
It’s easy to criticize a situation from afar. Please make sure you have all the facts before passing judgment on people, especially at night on a sometimes dangerous road.
I would not get of until the police are ther