The ban on rail travel in Israel has been removed. But please do not post any more State Dept. advisories, but instead send them to my email address: daveklepper@yahoo.com/ Posting such advisories can result in the thread being removed by the moderator as a political comment, rather than a train travel matter.
An excerpt from my 19 September letter to the Ambassador should be of interest:
His Excellency, Daniel Shapiro, USA Ambassador to Israel
The USA Embassy, HaYarkon St. 71
Tel Aviv
Dear Ambassador Shapiro, Shalom u'vracha,
I am writing primarily to thank you for your part in ending the ban on USA Government employees from enjoying rail transportation in Israel, Israel Railways, the Haifa Carmelit, and Jerusalem Light Rail (Citypass). This letter discusses other matters as well, and I hope you will read it through.
May I suggest that you and your wife enjoy the scenery on Israel Railways between Beit Shemesh and the Jerusalem Malcha station? It is not practical to reach this area by road, and the scenery is among the best in Israel, an area I have also visited on my Yeshiva's T'uv b'Sh'vat nature hikes. The scenery is nostalgic, reminding me of the Colorado – New Mexico border scenery, on my 1960, '61, and '62 Denver & Rio Grande Western narrow-gauge train rides between Alamosa and Durango, Colorado. The scenery there is important enough that the track between Antonito, Colorado, and Chama, New Mexico, has been preserved jointly by Colorado and New Mexico and is operated as scenic tourist line (Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Ry.). Possibly when in the USA, you may have the opportunity to visit that operation.
There is also scenery on Jerusalem Light Rail, particularly between Shufat North and Pizgat Zev at the northern portion of the line, part of which is quite rural
1. I had never thought about the question: "Why were we offered the chance to use the Wiliiam Jackson Palmer on the round trip to Farmington for such a low price?" I never thought about it until I posted the story. I think the answer was that Mauray had been promised an obs car to bring up the rear of the train, and Tom Long figured the railroad might as well make a bit of money on this requirement and also be assured of proper care for the car. I think about ten of us had paid $50 extra per person the day before to ride the Nomad up to Silverton and back. Maurey Kleibolt was with us on the Nomad but not the next day on the WJP. I think he was with the alternative bus tour that explored old grades north of Silverton, The Silverton, Silverton Northern, the Silverton Gladstone and Northerly, and possibly the D&RGS grades from Durango.
2. Other than the website, I sent regular mail about 16 copies of my letter to the Ambassador, to transit professionals and two close relatives. One niece wrote I should have used "surprised" instead of "shocked" to be less confrontational. Two replies said I should have written HIlllary Clinton instead of the Ambassador. (But I am sure the Ambassador sent it on to Hillary.) Two said they are too busy with their own problems to help but wishes be good luck. About 10 out of 16 replied.
How stupid of me! The fourth person was the late Lord John Gretton, owner of Great Western 4-6-0 Pendenis Castle. His widow, Lady Jenny Greton, is manager of the Ravenglass annd Ecksdale Railroad (narrow gauge, Cambrian Coast).
Of course the ultimate in segregation is provided by a private car. However, on a Kleibolt Colorado trip (1962), Rudy Morgenfrue, Brad Miller, one other and I charterred (for $25.00! Cash given to D&RGW VP-Passengers Tom Long on the platform the evening before on arrival from Silverton.) the William Jackson Palmer (obviously we would have preferred the Nomad, but that wasn't available for anything less than $500) for the rear of the trip from Durango to Framington and back. Rudy and I bought supplies for full-course steak dinner at a Farmington supermarket and we had more than enough, so I was asked to choose some regular coach passengers to join us. There was a fine middle-aged lady railfan, Martha Wilson, and one other whom I invited. As we wer eating desert, two youngsters came to the car with a kite and asked if could be flown from the observation platform. What a sight we must have been arriving in Durango and too bad aI don't have photo.
I like Amtrak's use of common diners and lounges. Some sleeper passengers spend their entire trip in their compartments other than the walk to the diner. I usually spend most of my waking hours in the lounge. where you can best view the scenery and meet the most interesting people.
I still can use the word Apartheid which simply means segregation. It does not in itself apply specifically to racial matters. I think it is 100 wrong for the US Government to single out public transportation, when it is proven far SAFER than private and taxi transportation in Israel. That is the point. If they want to increase the risk of government people by doing so, well I can object but then I do not work for the Government, and have my Army discharge with me. I do object to their messing with my life by limiting my ability to show hospitality and increase railfan participation. I agree their is no analogy to racial segregation, the best analogy is overzelous police harassing of railfan photographers.
I would like to discuss a different kind of segregation . I remember one forum participant objecting to the high price of Acela first class, and I justified it by saying it helps makes possible the lower prices for coach and business in regionals and business in Acela. Some railroads segregated Pullman and coach passengers competely, and others, like SAL provided common lounge and diners. Then there is the famous Super Chief saga and end with Amtrak providing only one diner.
What is your opinion?
Not ever having been to Israel, I don't feel as if I can comment beyond what The professor has published and it is a quote from the Official state Department Document.
linked @ travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_5677.html
[Document titled]
The following is a direct copy of the language of the Document's Titled Section on:
"General Safety and Security"
"...Israeli authorities remain concerned about the continuing threat of terrorist attacks. U.S. citizens are cautioned that a greater danger may exist around restaurants, businesses, and other places associated with U.S. interests and/or located near U.S. official buildings, such as the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem. U.S. citizens are also urged to exercise a high degree of caution and to use common sense when patronizing restaurants, nightclubs, cafes, malls, places of worship, and theaters, especially during peak hours. Large crowds and public gatherings have been targeted by terrorists in the past and should be avoided to the extent practicable. U.S. Government personnel have been directed to avoid protests and demonstrations and urged to maintain a high level of vigilance and situational awareness at all times. U.S. citizens should take into consideration that public buses and their respective terminals are off-limits to U.S. Government personnel.
Since December 2009, two U.S. citizens have been murdered in separate incidents while walking in the woods in the Beit Shemesh area near Jerusalem. Israeli authorities characterized the murders as terrorist attacks.
A bomb blast near the Central Bus Terminal in Jerusalem on March 23, 2011, injured several U.S. citizens..."
It would seem to be common sense warnings for those who are entering into a 'zone of conflict' /'war zone'. Maybe those last terms are harsh terminology(?); but anyplace where a peaceful individual is living,and working,( while subject to random acts- Terrorism) would fit those terms IMHO. As long as an individual accepts personal responsibility for the danger they have placed themselves in, seems perfectly normal to try and carve out the best quality of life, in that set of circumstance.
Dave K. I would salute you and wish you well for wanting to live in such an historic place. It is amazing how the Israeli's have created such a bountiful land, and place where they want to live. Looking at various Television programs and watching many videos of life there. It is truly an amazing place to live.
P.S. I am not going to get into the discussion on "Segregation'. I grew up in the South during the 40's to 60's. Saw Army trucks carrying troops in Memphis going to Oxford, Ms. to let James Meridith go to Ole Miss. Saw Orval Faubus, and George Wallace trying to stop Integration in their states by blocking school house doors on nightly News broadcasts.
I am glad that many parts of this Country have put it behind them ( maybe not completely, but surely it is not nearly as harsh, in most parts of the USA.
Stay Safe, Dave.
Clarity through facts from the US State Dep't.:
"The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the risks of traveling to Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, and about threats to themselves and to U.S. interests in those locations. The Department of State urges U.S. citizens to remain mindful of security factors when planning travel to Israel and the West Bank and to avoid all travel to the Gaza Strip. This replaces the Travel Warning issued June 22, 2011, to update information on the general security environment.
The Department of State strongly urges U.S. citizens to avoid all travel to the Gaza Strip, which is under the control of Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization.
The Department of State urges U.S. citizens to exercise caution when traveling to the West Bank.
The Department of State urges U.S. citizens to remain vigilant while traveling throughout Jerusalem, including in commercial and downtown areas of West Jerusalem. U.S. citizen employees of the U.S. Embassy and Consulate General and their families are prohibited from using public transportation networks, including buses and light rail services, and their associated terminals.
Israeli authorities remain concerned about the continuing threat of terrorist attacks. U.S. citizens are cautioned that a greater danger may exist around restaurants, businesses, and other places associated with U.S. interests and/or located near U.S. official buildings, such as the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem. U.S. citizens should take into consideration that public buses and their respective terminals are off-limits to U.S. Government personnel. A terrorist attack on two commercial buses and two private vehicles on Route 12 north of Eilat killed eight and injured nearly 40 on August 18, 2011."
In summary, it is a warning to exercise sensible caution and only bans US personnel from certain areas. It is cannot in any rational way be interpreted as based on a desire to separate people on the basis of race, as in segregation as you claim. In consequence, your letter to them would appear as the work of an overly agitated person who is distorting the reality, i.e., a "kook." . If educational institutions restrict the areas their students can go, you should appeal to them. To phrase this in terms of rail fanning is not going to be taken seriously by the authorities.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
My reason as stated in my letter to ask the State Department to cancel the advisory that has been interpreted as a ban by educational institiutions desiring continiue SD cooperation ban is because the security situation is sufficiently safe to not warrent the advisory/ban. Beyond of my letter, the reason for the inclusion of this issue here in a more general thread on segregation is because:
1. It interferes with my personal life as railfan in hosting friends, as interpreted by the educaitonal institutions.
2. It interferes with important general railfan activity (actually riding) in Israel, an activity I would like all visiting railfans to enjoy.
3. It places a real barrier ("apartheid") between visitors and getting to know the varied multi-ethnic population of Jerusalem, all of whom ride each others buses and light rail, and most of whom are polite to each other, and polite to visitors.
I note that use of several version of MS Word-for Windows distorted the typography of the letter as printed and mailed, and I am going to attempt to correct that situation.
I don't want the thread to be blocked, because there can be other matters of segregation to be discussed, but I can agree that if you can at least accept my explanaition as to why I put it on the thread, the matter of the Advisory for Israel can be closed, and we can move on to other cases. Any comments on my Johanessburg experience? I was a guest and consultant, was usually driven or flown, even one or more times by heliocopter, to job sites, except that I insisted on using the Blue Train and not air in going once from Johanessburg to Capetown, and thoroughly enjoyed the ride as you can imagine. I learned that the Blue Train was not segregated, since it was all private room, except for the dining car, which was configured with a glass divider and four tables (two seating four and two seating two) at one end of the car.
Also, as recounted by Doug Riddel in a column in Rail News, I once got a chance to handle the throttle of a 4-8-0 from pit to coal and water at the Capitol Park Engine Shen in Praetoria. When Baba Selsick, the Sun City Architect, and I arrived at the "Shed". The foreman said: "You can look around, but no pictures." After a while, Baba went over to him and spoke in Afrikaans: "David is not here to write a report on how you mistreat Blacks, he is just a rail fan who loves trains." So he relented and allowed to to photograph, but the picture I wanted most, of a Rhodesian Garret, the one and only Garret I have seen, did not turn out. I did offer to photograph the Foreman standing in front of the 4-8-0, he was about to move, and as after I did, he invited me to the cab and under his instruction ran the locomotive for the short distance.
If the State Dept. feels there should be an advisory, then they should post that. If educational institutions over-react and impose a ban, than that is the institution's fault. It would be irresponsible for the State Dept. to cancel the advisory just because some people over-react.
What is kooky (not kookey) about your letter? Let's see.
1) Not understanding what type of information is appropriate in context. You start with a totally irrelevant paragraph about your work with acoustics (?), offering to send the ambassador copies of articles totally irrelevant to the question at hand. Do you somehow imagine that the US Department of State make travel advisories about what countries and activities are safe for US tourists based on articles about noise reduction on public transit by some random smuck ?
2) You want the State Department to "cancel the ban". The Department of State has not issued any "ban", and thus cannot cancel a ban.
Heaven knows if any US educational institutions actually (as in real life, not in the interpretations inside your head) has proclaimed something that reasonably could be construed as a ban on students doing exchange work in Israel traveling on public transit in Israel, or whether you are just misunderstanding an advisory from the educational institutions to their students.
In either case, it is not something the Department of State is involved in - agreements and rules between educational institutions and students are private matter between the students and their educational institutions.
3) You argue that public transit in Israel has a better safety record than private cars or taxis. That is irrelevant. The US Dept of State does not issue travel advisories for Israel based on fear of poor maintenance or poor driving skills or whatever - they base it on the risk of being the victim of a terrorist attack.
The chance of being attacked by a suicide bomber on a bus on in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem is admittedly small. But is is perceived (by most reasonably rational people) as significantly larger than the risk of being hit by a suicide bomber on a bus in Atlanta or Seattle.
4) You imply that the only possible reason for the "ban" (which the Department of State has not proclaimed) must be a desire to somehow placate Arab countries, discounting the more obvious reason - the desire to warn fellow citizens about a potential danger, and at the same time play ye olde bureaucratic "cover your$1***$2 routine - people can hardly complain afterwards about their loved ones _not_ having been warned about the danger of terrorism if they disregard explicit and public warnings.
In short, you come across as a person babbling about cancelling a "ban" that only exists in your head (in the context of communicating with the US Dept of State), and having some weird conspiracy theories, who offered to send the ambassador some totally out of context articles on noise reduction on public transit. To most people, the combination usually spells k-o-o-k.
It is not disregarding advice, or accepting some risk to do things you enjoy that is kooky. It is thinking that your meaningless letter would cause the US Department of State to change their travel advisory for Israel, or your belief that if the Dept of State doesn't act on your letter, posting it to a train forum will somehow make them change their travel advisory. Btw - no need to try to convince me of your sanity by further posts about the security situation on public transit in Israel. I fully realize that the danger is limited, that life eventually has a 100% mortality rate no matter what you do or don't do, and that advice is advice, to be followed or disregarded as you see fit. Am I being clear enough? This hopefully is my last post on this subject. Feel free to have the thread locked or deleted as you see fit.Stein
Equating a State Department advisory (not a ban) of danger to travelers in a foreign country with segregation or Apartheid is beyond kooky, it is ludicrous and is demeaning to the victims of the ugly history of actual segregation.
I am always willing to learn, and I would be interested in knowing in what way the letter is kookey, and I would be interested in others' opinions as well?
I tried to assure the Ambassdor that I had a legitimate reason to complain. Then presented the complaint and the facts that are well known my the Israeli public. Obvioiusly, I was hoping to get a reply either that the ban removal is under consideration or that he would do whatever possible to see that its removal would be considered. With such a reply, i would not have brought up the general subject of segregation.
I'll be interested in knowing what is kookey about the letter. Thanks.
daveklepper To steinr: Of course I have complained to the Institution where I received my degrees. But I have friends and visitors from many places in the USA, not just the school I attended. OK? Amd I want railfans that I don't know who come from the USA to enjoy Israel's trains and trolleys as well,
To steinr: Of course I have complained to the Institution where I received my degrees. But I have friends and visitors from many places in the USA, not just the school I attended. OK?
Amd I want railfans that I don't know who come from the USA to enjoy Israel's trains and trolleys as well,
Then the sane thing to do would probably be to just tell people that despite the US Department of State warning against public transit in Israel in their travel advisories, you consider trains and buses in Israel safe, fun and interesting. Maybe telling people about good places to go, transit fanning locations, hints and tips - stuff like that.
Instead of writing a kooky letter to the US ambassador in Israel, and re-posting it on a train forum.
But whatever. You do as you like - it is a free forum.
Smile, Stein
To Firelock,.thanks for the information.
In the 1980's I spent altogether about half a year in South Africa, over four separate visits. I did some acoustical consulting work for Southern Sons Hotels, who, in advance of the overthrow of Apartheid, had desegregated their hotels on the basis that their clientel was international (and mostly it was so) and that the Government would not wish to embarras international visitors, And then they built Sun City, which was run almost entirely by blacks, whom they had sent to Switzerland to learn how to run hotels, casinos, and theatres, and was integrated from the beginning.
But the first time I visited I wanted to ride a Johannasberg trolleybus, since the wires were sitll in the air and the buses using them looked exactly like the trolley buses I would have liked to ride in London, but were gone by my first visit their and only seen in the Clapham transit museum. (red double-deckers!) I was told only blacks could ride them. On my second visit the wires were still there, but the buses had gone, and on the third visit the wires were also gone.
To DaveK: On a lighter note, you may be interested in knowing that one of the Richmond trolleys (maybe the one you rode?) still exists. It's on display in the Virginia Historical Society museum on Boulevard here in Richmond, but not in an operable state. You CAN go inside it, it's well preserved and lit. The Science Museum on Broad Street has a trolley line several hundred feet long with a trolley imported from Portugal. A fun ride even if it is a short one.
On the "bad ol' days" of segregation: The first time I visited the preserved RF&P station in Ashland Va. I remarked to the hostess how interesting it was that the station had two "wings", mirror images of each other. I wish I could have seen the look on my face when she told me it was on account of segregation, one side for whites, one for blacks. It never entered my mind! Times do change, sometimes for the better.
daveklepper 1. Certain educational institutions in their zeal to assure State Department cooperation and/or funding interpret the "advisory" to their students as an outright ban. This to me is a form of Apartheid.
1. Certain educational institutions in their zeal to assure State Department cooperation and/or funding interpret the "advisory" to their students as an outright ban. This to me is a form of Apartheid.
Then complain to your educational institution, if you feel psychologically incapable of just taking the bus or just advising fellow students to take the bus, without making it into a major drama production.
Stein
2. Even during the height of the Intafada (before Israel had learned what measures to take and how to safeguard the civil rights of its Arab citizens and Palestinians within its juristiction while ensuring safety) road accidents were a greater national calamity than terrorism. Now there is zero question that the specific educational institutions interpreting of the "advisory" as a ban is harmful to their own students' security. One important educational institute simjply insists that their students use no transportaton whatsoever except their own vans AND CHARTERED BUSES. Note that the Bulgarian event concerned a chartered bus, not regular public transportation.
3. Some students of some of these institutions who are attending classes and in some cases living in dorms with Israeli student do learn that their institution's' ban is nonsense and behave like their fellow Israeli students, even to the point of buying monthly transit passes (the Jerusalem Rav Kav card is good on light rail and Egged buses, but not yet on the Arab sector buses, which do issue multi-ride bargain tickets), which they can buy at a bargain using their student identity cards.
4. Jerusalem light rail and the intercity Israel railway system are worthy of riding from a railfan veiwpoint as well as being as safe in every way as Amtrak or Metro North or the LIRR. For me to have a guest who tells me he cannot accompany me but has to take a taxi because of his school's rule is like his telling me he cannot use my front parlor in my home because of his school's rule.
Now I will change the subject. Bob Marcus did think about moving from streetcars to subway trains before moving to LA. First, the Transit Authority was not doing much hiring at the time, and there were streetcar motorman from its own largely Brooklyn operaton that wished to transfer to the Subway instead of driving buses, and second, Bob liked the interaction with people the running a streetcar or driving a bus provides, rather than being cooped up in the claustraphobic motorman's compartment that was typical before full-width cabs.
Back to bans. There is widespread Orthodox rabbinic opinion that an observant Jew is forbidding to enter a church! (But not a Mosque!!!) Exceptions were made for people like stone masons, chimney sweeps, plumbers, etc., whose livelihood involved serving all customers without discrimination. On that basis, for North America, my own Rabbi at Shearith Israel, NYC, Rabbi Marc Angel, Rabbi Avarham Karp at the Scranton Yeshiva, and the famous Lubovich Rabbi Schneerson specifically gave me a Hekhsher to work in churches doing acoustical consulting. Here in Israel I enter churches to enjoy a concert of Bach's and Frank's music and also to accompany guests from overseas who wish to visit a church and even attend a service. I know what the reasoning behind the ban was, and believe it is certainly not applicable to me personally in Israel. I think all segments of the population should try to get to know each other better. I would never think of saying to a guest: "I am sorry, Rabbis forbid me to enter a church, I will wait for you outside."
daveklepper When asked: "Why the ban?" Should I answer: "Better ask the State Department."?
Or you could have done the obvious (for non-zealots) thing and just have asked "what ban?".
The fact that the US Department of State advises American visitors to Israel that public transit in Israel has been and probably still is a target for terrorist bombs does not constitute a "ban" on traveling by public transit in Israel. Or "segregation", for that matter.
Could it be that the State dept. is being proactive? If large numbers of foreigners began to travel on transit they would become attractive targets. Yesterday a bus filled with tourist from Israel was bombed in Bulgaria. Sadly, mass transit will always be a mass target.
This morning special prayers were said at my Yeshiva in Jerusalem for the 17th anniversary of the passing of Bob Marcus, who was often my partner at in operations the Shore Line Trolley Museum (East Haven – Branford, CT). Third Avenue Transit 629 was his and my favorite car. He was buried by the Hebrew Free Burial Society, and when we learned of this, we raised money for the stone. For many years he ran Third Avenbue streetcars in the Bronx and was popular and got along well with his mostly Irish coworkers. Rather than move to buses, he moved to Los Angeles, ran PCC cars as long as they ran there, and then moved back to New York and finally felt forced to be a bus driver. This posting is in his memory.
In the late summer and early fall, 1939, my parents and I spend a few weeks living in Franklin, New Hampshire. My sister Gertrude had become ill at her summer camp counselor work, and my parents wished to visit each day her during her recovery. After her recovery, she returned to her studies at the University of Michigan, and my parents and I returned to New York City. In Franklin, the owner of the home where we rented two rooms had a young daughter of my age, and we began to play together. But then my parents told me not to join her under any circumstances because the landlord did not wish her daughter to be friends with a young Jew. Instead, I used my daytime free time to explore the town and watch Boston and Maine Railroad trains pass or stop at the Franklin Station.
To return to New York, we took a local taxi to the station. A Montreal – Boston express passed by at speed, and then a local, with its wood, open-platform coaches, arrived. We had a few hours in Concord, and in addition to a restaurant meal, we watched a motion picture show. I have no memories of the show itself, but very firm memories of the newsreel that proceeded it. We saw German planes bombing Poland. We saw German soldiers marching through streets of Warsaw. We saw a Warsaw two-car tram train, both the motor-car and trailer single-truck, deck-roof cars, the trailer probably a converted horsecar, with the sign “Juden” on its side. We saw the construction of the Ghetto walls, in one case closing off a street interrupting its streetcar tracks. These pictures remain in my mind over seventy years later as if I saw them yesterday.
Four years later I was on my own traveling to Richmond, Virginia, to visit my sister Lillian, married at that time to Daniel Hyman, then a flight surgeon in the Army Air Corps. They lived on Richmond’s north side, and I had specific instructions (from the Main Street Station on the Chesapeake and Ohio train from Charlottesville) to take the Broad and Main car to Broad Street, then the Ginter Park streetcar, changing to the Northside Avenue bus at whatever the transfer point was. In New York City, I had frequently ridden the Broadway-42nd Street streetcar, and often the motorman’s seat at the rear of the double-end car was not folded away, and I could enjoy an “observation-car” ride through the city. On boarding the Ginter Park car (known to me now as a double-truck Birney lightweight), I thought I could do the same in Richmond. As soon I sat down, a well-dressed black woman said: “Sonny, the rear of the streetcars is for us black people, please join the white people in the front of the car.” I was not a Rosa Parks and did what she suggested. But it reminded me of what I had seen in the newsreel in Concord, New Hampshire, and sparked an interest in learning what were the causes of segregation.
Do you think that USA segregation is dead in the USA? How about the USA State Department forcing segregation on students whose education abroad it helps facilitate and/or fund? Thus this letter, still awaiting a reply:
help of readers of this posting is requested,
דוד לויד בן יעקב יהודה קלפר,ישיבת בית אורות, שמואל בן עדיה 1, הר הזיתים, ירושלים 91240
David Lloyd ben Yaacov Yehuda Klepper, Yeshivat Beit Orot, Shmuel ben Adiya 1, Mt. of Olives, Jerusalem 97400 ISRAEL
Tel: 011-972-2-627-1009, Email: daveklepper@yahoo.com
8 July ’12, 18 Tamuz 5772 > 9 9 I > 08.07.12, יח' תמוז תשע"ב
Dear Ambassador Shapiro,
I have to raise an issue that I hope can be settled with your help. My professional career has been involved mostly with architectural acoustics, but I have always had an interest in public transportation in general and railways in particular. Since my move to Israel, my article "Further Thoughts on Railway Noise" was published in Noise Control Engineering 52-2, March-April 2002, and another "A/V for Public Transit" in Sound and Communications, September, 2001. A third, "Noise Reduction from Jerusalem Light Rail," is under peer review by the Institute for Noise Control Engineering for Noise Control Engineering. If you wish, I can email or mail you copies.
I was shocked to learn that the USA State Department still has a travel advisory not to use public transportation in Israel. This is bad science and bad engineering. The Interior Ministry here can verify that public transportation, including all sectors, the Egged National Bus Cooperative, the Dan Cooperative, the Arab Sector buses in Jerusalem, Israel Railways, and Jerusalem Light Rail (Citypass), have a far better safety and security record than private automobiles and even taxis. This is parallel to conditions in North America and many European countries. Indeed, public transportation in Israel is safer than in certain European countries where no such travel advisory exists. It is even safer than in certain USA cities!
When asked: "Why the ban?" Should I answer: "Better ask the State Department."? Or suggest possible answers: One is that the ban is important in certain Arab countries and thus the ban in Israel is part of the effort to be "even-handed." Another is that use of a United Jerusalem public transit system is recognition of Jerusalem as a United City. Any answer of course means politics and not consideration of the students' safety and welfare or a policy based on misinformation..
The best solution would be for the State Department to cancel the ban.
Best wishes, respect and warmest regards,
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