Improving Safety and Traffic at Shiloh Junction

Just a few years ago, the powers that be in our Binyamin region thought they were improving our lives by building a sort of bus stop/hitchhiking post on Highway 60 going north at the Shiloh Junction. It has a bench, top and backing. For safety there are even a few poles that in theory would stop a terrorist vehicle from ramming into waiting Jews seated there.

Yes, in theory, sitting at some desk, designed and planned by "experts" who own cars and get cars from their employers, that bus stop/hitchhiking post is a gem.

But for us, those who get dropped off there, or those who have to that bus stop/hitchhiking post, it's terrifying.

• The bus stop/hitchhiking post is far north from the Shiloh junction.
• There's no safety barrier, or even sidewalk between the "shelter" and the turnoff to Shiloh.
• Walking to the Shiloh turnoff requires walking directly into traffic, and most of the traffic is Arab. 
• Walking from the Shiloh turnoff requires having your back to the traffic.
• All this brings up my post traumatic stress from the terror attack, first ramming, in which I was injured over twenty years ago.

A couple of months ago, there was an announcement that due to the heavy traffic by the Shiloh Junction, we're being upgraded to a traffic light. 

Thank Gd, more than just a traffic light will be gracing our junction. The entire Shiloh Junction is being upgraded. There will be designated lanes for right turns. The construction of this new Shiloh Junction has been causing traffic delays most nights. It's far from finished, but the terrifying walk along the road is now a thing of the past. Last night I happily hopped, skipped and jumped while making my way through the dirt and rocks until I could cross the road and catch a ride going into Shiloh. The icing on the cake was when someone offered me a ride before I even reached the sidewalk. 

Next big request is that they make that  bus stop/hitchhiking post into an official bus stop, so we'll have more transportation northwards to Eli, Ariel and Tapuach. Gd willing....

Tremping, (Hitchhiking) Dilemma

As everyone must know by now, we don't have a car, and

• I work in a place that, although near as the crow flies, does not have a direct bus line to Shiloh, nor does it have frequent bus service.
• I am not the type of person with patience.
• I cannot sit and wait without going nuts.

I generally combine public transportation with tremping aka hitchhiking and in order to get to work in Kochav Hashachar, I send out some whatsapp messages to teachers and staff members who either live in or pass Shiloh. I haven't yet been forced to tremp there from Shiloh, but I have to use tremps and lots of siyata d'Shmaya to get to work on Wednesdays from Jerusalem.

When I finish work to go home or to Sha'ar Binyamin for shopping or to Jerusalem for whatever, I wait at the security gate, and usually I get a ride to wherever I need pretty quickly. But yesterday I waited and waited for a ride in the direction of home. Even one of the staff members who lives nearby ended up going in the wrong direction. I had even planned on taking any ride to the eastern Gush Shiloh area and just tremp, but there weren't any.

I kept staring at the main road, Kvish Alon a few hundred meters away.

There are tremping posts, hitchhiking stations, on the road in both directions, as you can see circled in the photo above. They are even equipped with anti-terror-ramming cement blocks. But I've never seen anyone standing at either of them, though I'm sure some people do. I've gotten off at one coming from Jerusalem, in a tremp going to Beit She'an.

I know that many people going to eastern Gush Shiloh travel on the road, and also those traveling to the Shiloh area from Rimonim and Michmas pass and are potential rides. As I waited I became more and more tempted to walk out to the road. But I didn't. Just as I was about to consult with the guard at the gate, the same neighbor who had given me a ride in the morning came by on his way home, B"H.

But the question still holds. Should I wait there for rides?

Safety Tremping- Are The New Poles Safer Than Cement Blocks?

Yesterday, while on the bus on the way to work, while passing Ofra I saw that the cement blocks protecting trempistim aka hitchhikers were being replaced by brightly colored  poles.

going north, towards Shiloh, Eli, Ariel etc

going north, towards Shiloh, Eli, Ariel etc

going south, towards Jerusalem

Even though these poles are installed well and into the ground, I am not impressed, nor am I comforted nor feel safer. The security experts first started putting in poles to protect bus stops and hose waiting, after the terrorist rammed into us twenty years ago. They do protect a bit when the weapon is a regular car. But I always felt much safer when able to hid behind those cement barriers if there would be a shooting attack by terrorists.

No, Baruch Hashem and bli eyin haraa, (not the tempt the Evil Eye,) I was never shot at. But while waiting for buses and tremps (rides) I do rehearse in my mind how to hide from danger. And considering the amount of shooting attacks, I don't think that the cement barriers should be scrapped.

What do you think?

Why Grandmothers and Others Tremp aka Hitchhike

Even bus stops aren't all that safe and comfortable, especially when you don't know when the bus will arrive.

One of the things that kept me from falling asleep last night was wondering what to blog here on Shiloh Musings this morning. I do try t keep my blogging topics varied and interesting and from a perspective you may not get anyplace else. I guess you'd call this one in the "not get anyplace else" category. How many retirement age grandmothers admit to hitchhiking besides yours truly?

It's not that I have anything against buses. There are times I really look forward to taking a bus for the comfort and quiet and chance to say my daily Tihillim Psalms or the Mincha Afternoon prayer. When my husband travels home, especially, heavy bags from the shuq, open air Machane Yehuda Market he has been known to wait hours for a bus to Shiloh rather than struggle with his bulky, heavy bags and tall frame in a small crowded car seat.

 Our buses do not stop
on the road.

Why would he be waiting so long when there are generally one or even two buses to Shiloh from Jerusalem when he's on his way home? Well, that's the schedule, but sometimes the buses just don't arrive. Apparently there aren't any spare buses. That means that the very impressive bus schedule that the "powers" worked out took for granted that no bus would ever break down, and all drivers would be in good health and show up as scheduled. Of course in the real world you need backup plans, and when you don't have good ones, innocent, trusting travelers are left in the cold. And we are also in a panic.

If we take another bus in order to get to a bus/hitchhiking stop will we see our bus passing and then miss it?

That's the "Murphy's Law" for travelers like us? If we take a ride to Ofra, we may have to run like mad, or end up missing the bus if it comes quickly. And if I take a ride to the Shiloh Junction, there is a bus stop, but few drivers pick up passengers there. A number of times I've ended up waiting either there or at the Shvut Rachel-Shiloh Junction where no bus stops at all.

So you must wonder why I tremp. First of all, you should know that most of the drivers are friends or very familiar people, considering that I've been living in Shiloh for over 34 years. I know lots of people from nearby communities and my work in Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin. We do quick profiling, as do the drivers.

I'll give an example of what happened to me the other day. I was on my way home and had taken the lightrail to Ammunition Hill, which is near Ramat Eshkol and French Hill, Jerusalem. From there I walked to the bus stop on the top of Eshkol Blvd. There was supposed to be a bus in a few minutes, so I waited, and I waited. And I didn't get on any of the buses that could easily have taken me to the "cityline," the border of Jerusalem, where there are buses and tremps. I was waiting for the bus that would take me just a few steps from my house. Yes, I have absolutely nothing against taking buses. But the bus never came. I was getting tired of standing, and if you're wondering about safety, there's no guarantee that standing there is any safer than standing at the "cityline."

Finally, when a bus to Ariel, which doesn't stop in Shiloh, came I got in. I was able to use my train ticket's free transfer which made the trip free until the Psagot/Tel Zion/Kochav Yaakov stop. But I got off at the "cityline." And just as I got off, a neighbor pulled up, so I got in, and someone told me that another neighbor was right behind her. She took me straight to my door. To me, that was the sign that I had done the right thing by tremping.

I think the bus came just a few minutes later, but since I had no idea it would be arriving at all, I think I did the smart thing. Too many times my husband reports that buses didn't show at all, and there's a limit to how long anyone should stand helplessly at a bus stop.

Yes, that's me at the "cityline." Those signs are no longer there, but cars still stop supplementing the bus service.

Soldiers all Over and More

The other night when I was waiting for a ride home from Ofra one of the soldiers stationed at the trempiada, aka hitchhiking post just outside of Ofra heard me speak and spoke to me in English asking where I'm from. It ends up that he's from Monsey and has grandparents someplace on Long Island. He knows the street name but not the town. We didn't get to talk too much, because a neighbor pulled up and took me home.

Yes, there are soldiers stationed everywhere. Last week when I was waiting at the T Junction to Beit El aka Givat Asaf, there were a whole bunch there, too. I could hardly see them and then, after looking up, I realized that the lightbulb in the streetlight over the spot had gone out. It was awful. You couldn't see who was in the cars pulling up to offer rides. And you couldn't see what license plates that were on the cars. That's not safe at all. I'm an old hand at tremping aka hitchhiking, and I like to see who's coming. So I asked the soldiers to please report the lack of proper lighting to their superiors or whomever, which they did. But a few nights lighter when passing by I could see that it hadn't yet been repaired. (If you're from Beit El or work there, please have it fixed if it hasn't been.)

I've also seen a lot more fully equipped soldiers at Sha'ar Binyamin. Some are standing around guarding and others shopping for noshes.

No doubt they find it a lot more pleasant and convenient being stationed by Rami Levy than wandering the roads by Arab villages. The presence of all the soldiers is more a deterrence than anything. Most terrorists, like muggers, look for "easy marks" to attack.

Nowadays, many more Israelis who have licensed guns are taking their guns with them everyplace. That's what neighbors tell me. Last night at work a young family came into the shoe store, and while they had the young children trying on shoes, one of the kids began to cry:

"What happened?" asked the mother.
"Abba's (daddy's) gun scraped me." said the little girl.

Apparently when the father picked her up, his easy to draw gun or the metal I saw sticking out of his waistband got in the way. That's today's reality here. Many of the Arab terrorists of late have been immediately executed on the spot by prepared civilians like that young father. Most people are not letting the fear of Arab terrorism keep them home, but there's no Pollyanna-like ignoring of dangers.

I'm not the only one who hasn't changed routines at all. But one thing is that don't travel with earphones listening to lectures the way I once did. We have to stay alert. It's also not good to be busy reading/watching the screen when outside. And remember not to panic and stay home. The very vast majority of Israelis, towns, cities and neighborhoods will never be targeted by Arab terrorists. And about the Yafiz and Rami Levy compound in Sha'ar Binyamin, besides the soldiers there have always been extra security and a gate. Even though there are Arab employees, I think it's safer than the rest of Sha'ar Binyamin or any Israeli street and most stores.

New Bus Routes Between Jerusalem and Binyamin-Shomron Will Force More Tremping (Hitchhiking)

On one hand I can't argue with the numbers, because the massive overhaul in the public transportation between Jerusalem and the Jewish communities of Samaria and Benjamin, where I live, will have more buses, more routes, which will be more frequent etc.

New W. Bank bus lines to offer better service, security
(the Jerusalem Post's headline)

But like many seemingly good deals, this one has some tricks and lots of disadvantages. The rationale behind it, according to the article, is "security" by making "tremping" unnecessary, but that's the one thing it doesn't give us.

A big advantage to taking the bus, especially before a long trip of an hour or more, is that you can go to the bus station, a closed building, with toilets and shelter from the elements. With this new plan, we must wait outdoors. The nearby to the new bus stops' Pisgat Ze'ev Mall usually has a line to get in and the trip from Pisgat Ze'ev by train to the Central Bus Station, if anyone needs to travel to or from another Israeli city can take about an hour by the "lightrail." It can even take more when you take into account waiting for the train and the walk from the train to the bus station. The train isn't a direct route. It goes through Arab neighborhoods and there have been attacks there of late. At present there isn't a direct bus route from the Pisgat Zeev Mall to the CBS. That means taking a couple of buses, and even though our ticket will give us a transfer for 90 minutes, those 90 minutes will probably be finished by the time we need the local Jerusalem bus. And also many of the Shomron and northern Binyamin destinations/starting points are more than a 90 minutes ride.

If we have to stand outside waiting for a bus, we may as well choose to wait where we also have an option for a "tremp," like the boys when they were kidnapped by terrorists.

And another big draw to tremping is the fact that our last bus home is only at 10pm from Pisgat Ze'ev. At present it's 11:30, and there's a 10:30, also. To get to that 10pm bus, we have to leave the more central parts of Jerusalem well before 9:30, so more and more people will be forced to hitchhike home.

So, to put it mildly, the Ministry of Transportation and Egged management and our hapless local leaders are conning us and endangering us.

No surprise.  They all get cars from work.

I Can't Keep Track of the Tremps aka Rides

Yes, I'm an unabashed, unrepentant hitchhiker. Since I don't have a car and am realistic enough to know that we'd never be able to afford one, and if we'd get one I'd have to spend a fortune to re-qualify as driver, it seems like tremping and I will stay "married" a long time.

And to be honest, if we got a car, we'd be giving rides/tremps, which also has its risks.

But I don't tremp because I'm a risk-taker. I am not a risk taker at all. I'm scared and phobic about most things. It's just that with the job and hobbies I have, tremping is the most efficient mode of transportation. It's not that I don't take buses. I certainly do when they arrive and I try to make plans according to buses. But if I had a rule only to travel by bus, I wouldn't yet be home from work. And I still would have needed a ride to get to the bus most probably. And I'd be waiting for that bus in a place much more isolated than where I did wait, all the places I ended up waiting.

Here's how I got home:

1. I asked a woman who was with a full shopping cart and two teenage children to where she was going. "Ofra" was her answer. So I had ride #1.
2. At Ofra a neighbor and I caught a ride to the Shiloh Junction.
3. From there we caught another ride to the Shiloh-Shvut Junction.
4. Then within a minute or two, there was a ride to the "center" of Shiloh. I got off and he stayed in the ride.
5. I started walking up the hill to may neighborhood when a young family took me up to my street. They would have taken me to my door, but I told them that they should just continue to their home.

Yes, that's five "tremps." The tremps or rides are nothing like what hitchhiking looks like in the movies, when young people in need of a shower get into trucks or unsuitably fancy vehicles driven by people who look like they may have just knifed someone.

Some of the people who give me rides end up being people I or my husband or children know. Some actually become friends. I've even had job offers. 

Now, I need to sleep, so good night. 

PS I'm glad that I got home so easily. To think that if I had taken the bus I'd still be on it and then have to walk up the hill, a half a mile, a kilometer.

In Praise of Tremping aka Hitchhiking

The "tremping post" outside of Ofra.
I find myself there at least a few times a week.

In my world tremping  is a pretty normal form of transportation. I know that it has gotten a rather bad rap of late, but I wouldn't survive without it.  We don't have a car, and public transportation isn't all that frequent. And sometimes it isn't even all that reliable.

Tonight was a wonderful example of how tremping was extremely helpful.

Just before I finished work at Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin I saw a friend who lives nearby. We set that if I didn't get a ride sooner, I'd wait for her. She had a big shopping to do in Rami Levy and I was tired. I sat down near the exit and looked at the people checking out. There weren't too many. At least pretty much everyone shopping was Jewish. Since the Arab terrorist kidnapping of the three Jewish teenagers, the percentage of Arabs shopping in Sha'ar Binyamin has gone down drastically.

Since I wasn't desperate for a ride, I didn't ask everyone passing me, not like there were all that many. Most just didn't look like they'd be going to Shiloh, Shvut Rachel or passing by on their way to the Shomron. And none looked like they were going to Ofra or the communities west and northwest of Ofra. Suddenly I saw a woman who looked "just right." I asked her where she was going:

"The Shomron," she said. "Where do you need?"
"Shiloh," I said. And off we went to her car.

But we didn't get very far when we saw a young man with a wagon full of purchases. He asked where we were going, and she asked him where he needed to go.

"Shiloh," he said.

He didn't look familiar, but I don't know everyone in Shiloh.

We got moving and when we got to Ofra there were many people waiting for a ride including two more neighbors. So they got in, too. It ended up that the neighbors told us that they hadn't planned on tremping. They had taken the bus which had broken down. That's why they were waiting at the "tremping post."

Our driver, the mitzvah lady, announced that she'd take us all the way home and not drop us off on the road at the junction. She insisted that it was no problem. That's what the car was for, to help others. We discussed how life in rural Israel, such as the Shomron (Samaria) requires that neighbors and strangers help one another. Tremping and giving tremps is a very necessary part of life here.

After I was already home, my friend called to ask if I still needed a ride. And now I can go to sleep.

People are so wonderful!

Quiet in Shuafat, Beit Chanina, East Jerusalem, Thank G-d

Late this morning went down to the bus stop in Shiloh to get to Jerusalem, but the bus didn't come... so I hitched a ride, actually two. One after another. And that second ride was to Jerusalem. As usual, I asked where and how, meaning which route. The driver said that he was hoping to take the Benzion Netanyahu Road which goes through the Arab neighborhoods where the rioting had been these past few days.

"I checked and was told it was open and quiet," he said.

Considering that he would take me close to where I needed to go and said that if the road looked bad, he'd go the other way, so I stayed in the car.

The driver was right. The streets were empty, and so were the sidewalks. The road was totally clear.

We had a very quick and pleasant drive. He dropped me off a short walk from the Israel Museum, which I'll, bli neder, write about another day on me-ander. B"H, thank G-d things were quiet.

Postmortem: After Finding the Bodies of the Three Murdered Teenagers, The Blame Game

Mako / Channel 2, Jewish Press
"The bodies of the three teenagers have been found."

Now, even before the bereaved and mourning families and friends of  have buried their beloved boys, Eyal Yifrah 19, from Elad; Gilad Sha'ar, 16, from Talmon; and Naftali Frenkel, also 16, from Nof Ayalon, HaYa"D, May G-d Avenge Their Blood, the blame game has begun.

The minute it had been announced less than three weeks ago, that three teenagers were missing and last seen at the main Gush Etzion bus stop/hitching post, the media and politicians began blaming the youths for daring to hitch/tremp a ride. Many of us who write, wrote reams in the cyber sense of things doing our best to refocus and remind everyone that Arab terrorists are obviously guilty, not tremping/hitchhiking.

I'm a pension age grandmother who frequently tremps, simply because it is the most efficient, direct and pleasant way to travel to a from work, study and visiting all over when Shiloh is my hometown. We don't own a car. Actually we never owned one. I'm impatient by nature and enjoy the interaction with friends and strangers.

The media and internet are now blaming a large variety of Israeli politicians for the kidnapping and murder of the three young teenagers.  Right now, I am focusing on one group and their supporters as the guilty party:

ARAB TERRORISTS!

Arab terrorists kidnapped and murdered the boys. Everyone who helped them are themselves also terrorists. All of those who continue to support the idea that Arab terrorists can and should have a state they are planning to call "Palestine" are among their supporters.

Bli neder, not a vow, I plan on elaborating in a later post.

How to Make Tremping aka Hitchhiking Safer

Tremping aka hitchhiking is here to stay, as far as I'm concerned. Actually I just used that lovely method of semi-private transportation to get home from Jerusalem today. I took two buses from the shuk, Machane Yehuda to the "city line," the border of Jerusalem and the Benjamin Regional Council, where I quickly caught a ride going to Givat Harel, which is across from the Shiloh Junction, then a second ride to the Shvut Rachel-Shiloh Junction and then a ride to my street.

It was daylight, a bright afternoon and I could see the drivers, and they could see me.

One of the big problems is when you really can't see who's driving or waiting, because it's dark. And some places aren't lit all that well, so the drivers can't see who's waiting. And I understand why they don't stop. I wouldn't stop for someone if I couldn't see exactly who it is. And another equally dangerous situation is when you can't see at all who is driving up, nor see the color of the license plate. I once came home via Ariel at night and got a tremp that was going to Eli. I thought it would be fine, like waiting at the Ofra Junction, which I do a lot even at night. There is enough light there so we can see who is pulling up or driving by. Waiting across from Eli I couldn't see anything of the cars coming from Ariel or Tapuach. It wasn't pleasant. And I know that the majority of cars on the road are Arab, so I ignored all the cars from that direction. Finally a car came out of Eli in the direction of Shiloh and stopped for me.

There must be better light at all of the junctions where people wait, and the light mustn't only be on the trempistim, those waiting for rides or buses. They must also project onto the cars, so we can see who is driving and who is with him/her. Just like bright lights make some bugs scamper away, I have no doubt that the terrorists won't like being under a spotlight.