User:Yairp/Rav-Kav

Rav Kav (רב-קו) is a form of electronic ticketing used in several bus companies in Israel. Launched in August 2007, Rav-Kav was expected to be integrated by all public transportation companies in the country by late 2009, however technical and bureaucratic problems have caused this date to be pushed back several times, and the current dead line is in late 2010.

History
Rav-Kav was first introduced in August 2007 by the Ministry of Transportation. Operations started on August 28, 2007 by Kavim, a small bus company serving the suburban cities of Kiryat Ono, Or Yehuda, Yehud and Petah Tikva, as well as several other destinations in the Jezreel Valley area. Several other small companies were to start offering Rav-Kav in the following months, however these were all delayed.

The first major company to offer Rav-Kav was Dan, which serves many bus routes in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area. Although it was originally supposed to offer Rav-Kav to all passengers in August 2008, Dan only started limited service for student card holders in October, and full service started in January 2009.

Egged, the largest bus company in the country, did not have a final date set for the introduction of Rav-Kav at the time of its announcement. This was attributed to its large fleet of buses which required a longer integration period. As of September 2009, Egged is expected to offer Rav-Kav by late 2010.

Israel Railways also did not have a set date for the introduction, however the ministry's spokesman stated at the time of Rav-Kav's introduction that it would be within several months. As of September 2009, Israel Railways is expected to fully integrate Rav-Kav by early 2011.

As of September 2009, eight out of twelve bus companies offer Rav-Kav, some of which have not yet fully integrated it. For example, Veolia Transport Israel only allows specific products to be stored on the card such as monthly passes, and does not provide pay as you go services.

Registration
Rav-Kav cards can be either registered or anonymous. Registered cards carry the passenger's name and picture, and allow the purchase of a wider variety of products such as monthly passes, student passes and senior-citizen passes. Registered cards also grant a 20% discount for the pay as you go product. Transactions made on registered cards are monitored for statistical purposes. Also, registered card provide insurance in case of a lost or stolen card. Both registered an unregistered cards can only be purchased at the designated purchase points.

Delays
The Rav-Kav project suffered many delays since it was first introduced. While it was originally intended that all companies providing public transportation services will integrate Rav-Kav by late 2009. However as of September 2009, Egged, the largest bus company in the country, as well as Israel Railways have yet to offer any Rav-Kav services at all, while some of the companies which already offer Rav-Kav only provide limited services. The Jerusalem and Haifa metropolitan areas are primarily served by Egged, while Beer Sheva is served by Metrodan, which also does not offer Rav-Kav. Even in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area which is served by Dan, Egged is still a major provider of services, and so is Israel Railways. Also, a large part of the country's intercity bus network is still operated by Egged. This gives Rav-Kav a relatively small customer base. Egged is expected to fully integrate Rav-Kav by late 2010, a year behind schedule, and Israel Railways is expected to follow in early 2011.

Joint Fare Collection
The ongoing de-centralization of Israel's bus network has created a market of twelve different public transportation operators, and in some cases different operators provide services in the same area. This caused a major problem for passengers who require the services of more than one operator, since they now have to pay separately for each operator's services. Rav-Kav was expected to solve this problem as a joint fare collection system. However, since there has been no agreement between the operators as to how this system would operate, the joint collection system was never implemented. This created a peculiar situation, in which a passenger's card would have to store separate payment for each operator. For example, a passenger who needs to transfer from Dan to Kavim using the pay as you go method would have to purchase separate amounts from each operator.


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