Lack of Adequate Buses to Tomb of Prophet Samuel

Photo Credit: Hadas Parush / Flash 90

Tourists and other visitors to the Tomb of the Biblical Prophet Samuel, northeast of Jerusalem, are complaining of increasing difficulty in accessing the site due to a lack of adequate public transportation.

The Egged bus company said in response, however, that it only has a license to operate mini-buses to the site, due to access and safety issues, and there is no room for large buses.

“Therefore Egged uses minibuses, whose fill capacity is limited, [but] in general service is consistent with the level of demand,” the company said in its statement. Nevertheless, it added, “there does appear to be an increase in demand and [so] we are significantly increasing service … although we are limited in the number of minibuses that we have.”