Shabus, a Friday night shuttle service that began to operate in Jerusalem in May 2015, making trips between the city’s entertainment centers and the outer neighborhoods, including Ma’aleh Adumim, last week sent an urgent email to project members asking for urgent help, Mynet reported.
According to the report, the main contributor to the project has ceased all his support, because of his own financial trouble, well before the project was able to stand on its own feet financially. “Suddenly we find ourselves in a very difficult situation, whereby despite the expectations of the business plan, we have yet to reach financial independence,” went the email to members.
The initial funding for Shabus was obtained through crowd sourcing. The service is operated by the Association for Cooperative Transport in Jerusalem and was an initiative of young secular residents of the city and members of the city council.
City Councilwoman Laura Werton (Meretz), Chair of the Association for Cooperative Transport, told Mynet that the group was, indeed, in financial straits, but added that she expects the main donor to renew his support shortly. Werton also suggested that Shabus was a winning concept which is taking off in other Israeli cities, such as Kfar Saba, where secular people are starved for public transportation Friday nights.