Egged (company)
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Egged Transportation Ltd (, ) is the largest transit bus company in
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
. Egged's intercity bus routes reach most Israeli cities, towns,
kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...
im and
moshav A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...
im, and the company operates urban city buses throughout the country. It also operates in Poland and the Netherlands through a subsidiary. Egged provides about 35% of Israel's public transport services, employs about 6,500 workers and operates a fleet of 2,950 buses. Egged buses transport about 900,000 passengers per day.


History

Egged was created in 1933 through a merger of four smaller intercity bus cooperatives in and around
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
. In 1942, it was joined with the bus company ''United Sharon''. In 1951, Egged merged with the Northern ''Shahar'' bus company and the Southern ''Drom Yehuda'' bus company, creating a national public transportation network. In 1961, Egged merged with the ''Hamekasher'' bus company of
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
. The name ''Egged'' (lit. ''Union'') was given to the cooperative by the Israeli poet
Hayim Nahman Bialik Hayim Nahman Bialik (; January 9, 1873 – July 4, 1934) was a Jewish poet who wrote primarily in Hebrew language, Hebrew and Yiddish. Bialik is considered a pioneer of modern Hebrew poetry, part of the vanguard of Jewish thinkers who gave voice ...
. During the wars of
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...
,
1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...
and
1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...
, Egged buses and drivers helped to reinforce the logistics system of the IDF and drove soldiers and food to the battlefields. Some buses also served as ambulances to transport injured soldiers and civilians. In late 2002, Egged sued the
Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a c ...
and its chairman
Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...
for compensation of damages and loss of income due to terrorist attacks and suicide bombings on buses during the
Second Intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...
, claiming that the attacks had deterred passengers from taking buses. On February 3, 2003, the Tel Aviv District Court ruled that Arafat had to pay Egged NIS 52 million in damages for the loss of one year's income and NIS 100,000 in court expenses. Despite
deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
attempts by the Israeli prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...
, Egged is still Israel's largest bus company, is subsidized by the government, and still controls most of the inter-city bus lines in Israel. Netanyahu's attempts were cut short by a bus strike that brought the country to a halt, and Egged's workers and directors declared that any further attempts to undermine the company's monopoly will be met with similar measures. However, in recent years, many bus lines have begun to be operated by smaller bus companies such as Dan, Kavim, Superbus, Connex and others. In 2005, Egged and the Israeli Government reached an agreement under which by the year 2015 subsidization will be reduced to specific sectors, the disabled, soldiers and students, and for certain equipment. In 2019, members voted overwhelmingly to convert Egged into a company from a
worker cooperative A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and Workers' self-management, self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a Company, firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one ...
. Had its members voted to not convert its ownership structure, the government could have cancelled an operating agreement it signed with Egged in November 2018, tender out its routes, and imposed various sanctions until it decided to convert into a company.


A history of attacks

Egged buses and their passengers have been victims of acts of terrorism quite a few times, including: * Fajja bus attacks - November 30, 1947: An attack on an Egged bus traveling from
Netanya Netanya () () or Natanya (), is a city in the "Planet Bekasi" Central District (Israel), Setanyahu of Israel, Israel BAB ih, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between the Poleg stre ...
to
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, in which five bus passengers were killed. *
Ma'ale Akrabim massacre The Ma'ale Akrabim massacre, known in English as the Scorpions Pass Massacre, was an attack on an Israeli passenger bus, carried out on 17 March 1954, in the middle of the day. Eleven passengers were shot dead by the attackers who ambushed and b ...
- March 17, 1954: a shooting attack in which 12 passengers of an Egged bus were killed in Akrabbim. * Coastal Road massacre - March 11, 1978: terrorists took over an Egged bus, and at the end of a struggle between the terrorists and the police, 35 of the bus passengers were killed. * Tel Aviv–Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack - July 6, 1989: A terrorist derailed an Egged bus on route 405 into an abyss near Kiryat Ye'arim. 16 people died. * Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing - March 5, 2003: a suicide attack by a Hamas terrorist on Moriah Avenue in the Achoza neighborhood in Haifa. 17 people were killed in the attack. * The Second Intifada: During the Second Intifada, suicide attacks on buses were a major form of terrorism, resulting in hundreds of deaths.


Bus fleet

Egged's bus fleet includes a wide variety of bus models of
Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...
,
Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...
,
MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...
, Golden Dragon, Higer, BYD, and Yutong, many buses build are finished by local Israel bus manufacturers Haargaz and Merkavim. Historically, the company also extensively used buses by Leyland, Neoplan, Jonckheere, International,
Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...
and more.


International ventures

Egged has purchased 51% of the Bulgarian Trans-Triumph bus company, which runs service to cities such as Varna and
Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
, as well as airport and
tour bus A tour bus service is an escorted tour (sometimes a package holiday) or bus service that takes visitors sightseeing, with routes around tourist attractions. Information Double-decker buses and open top buses are commonly used, for provid ...
es for approximately €4 million. Egged, through its affiliated company, is responsible for the operation of half the public transportation in the city of Varna, the second-largest city in Bulgaria with about half a million residents. Egged also formed a joint venture company with Rousse municipality called Egged Rousse JSC which operates the public transport in the city of
Rousse Ruse (also transliterated as Rousse, Russe; ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fifth-largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, ...
. Egged operates some 1,500 buses in Poland, where it owns the Polish bus company Mobilis it acquired for €4 million in 2006. The company operates some metropolitan bus routes, including exclusive franchises in
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
,
Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
and
Bartoszyce Bartoszyce (pronounced ; , ) is a town on the Łyna River in northern Poland, with 22,597 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the capital of Bartoszyce County within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. Geographical location Bartoszyce lies on t ...
. Mobilis in Warsaw operate 215 buses for public transportation and serves around 40 routes daily. Also, it uses Scania coach for the football team Legia Warszawa and some other buses for special transport and tourism. Egged Bus Services (EBS) also holds an eight-year contract (with an option for an additional two years) worth about €500 million, for public transport in the region in the Netherlands, starting December 2011. The contract drew opposition from local activist groups who accuse Egged of supporting Israel's settlements policy in the
West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
, and consider the company's winning the tender as indirect Dutch support for Israel's settlements policy, according to reports by
Radio Netherlands Worldwide Radio Netherlands (RNW; ) was a public radio and television network based in Hilversum, producing and transmitting programmes for international audiences outside the Netherlands from 1947 to 2012. Its services in Dutch ended on 11 May 2012. Eng ...
. Egged's Dutch subsidiary denies being involved in politics.


Jerusalem Light Rail

In October 2010, Egged bought
Veolia Transport Veolia Transport (formerly Connex and CGEA Transport) was the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia until the 2011 merger that gave rise to Veolia Transdev, later renamed Transdev. Veolia Tr ...
's share in the Jerusalem Light Rail after a deal with the
Dan Bus Company Dan Bus Company () is an Israeli bus company based in Tel Aviv. It operates local bus service in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area (Gush Dan). Dan operates 1,200 buses and has 2,400 employees. It transports approximately over 600,000 passengers d ...
fell through. However, in March 2018 it was revealed that Egged will be prohibited from tendering to operate the light rail over competition concerns.


Tel Aviv Light Rail

Egged has been awarded the tender to operate and maintain the Tel Aviv Red Line from October 2021 by the NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd. tenders committee. The winning bid was from the Tevel consortium controlled by Egged (51%) with Chinese companies Shenzhen Metro (30%) and CCECC (19%). The tender win is subject to approval by the Israel Antitrust Authority.


"Mehadrin" routes

From the late 1990s until January 2011, Egged operated gender-segregated lines, commonly called Mehadrin bus lines mainly running in and/or between major
Haredi Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...
population centers. In these buses, men sat at the front and women were expected to wear "modest dress." The "mehadrin" lines were criticized after a woman, Miriam Shear, was allegedly assaulted for refusing to give up her seat to a male passenger and move to the back of the bus. In January 2011, the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that forced separation of men and women on buses was illegal but allowed voluntary separation for a one-year experimental period. The court, accepting the recommendations of an investigation committee, ordered the removal of signs designating buses as segregated and the installation of new signs informing passengers of their right to sit wherever they wanted. The Haredi public has requested to operate private bus lines but they were blocked by the transportation ministry.


Tourism

In later years Egged Bus Cooperative has expanded its services, through its subsidiary company Egged Tours, by offering organized trips abroad for Israelis as well as daily tours in Israel for tourists. Egged Tours is an IATA licensed company which operates as a wholesale company for organized tours all over the world and Israel for groups and individuals. Its services include flights, organized tours, accommodation and trips all year round.


Criticism


Involvement in Israeli settlements

On 12 February 2020, the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
published a
database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...
of companies doing business related in the
West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
, including
East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...
, as well as in the
Golan Heights The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...
. Egged was listed on the database on account of its activities in
Israeli settlements Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Jewish identity or ethnicity, and hav ...
in these occupied territories, which the UN considers to be illegal.


See also

* List of Egged bus routes in Israel * List of bus routes in Jerusalem *
Economy of Israel An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with ...
* Transportation in Israel * Egged Ta'avura


References


External links


Egged Official website

About Us – Official Egged Website

Picture of Egged buses

Hamekasher – A website dedicated to a bus company operated in Jerusalem until 1967
{{Transportation in Israel Bus companies of Israel Cooperatives in Israel Worker cooperatives Transport companies established in 1933 Bus transport in the Netherlands Bus transport in Bulgaria Bus transport in Poland Israeli brands Companies based in Tel Aviv Jewish businesses established in Mandatory Palestine 1933 establishments in Mandatory Palestine Words and phrases in Modern Hebrew