Monday, November 24, 2008

Tremping Update - Ariel

26 of Eighth Month 5769

The northern entrance into Ariel from Road No. 5 now has a kikar of sorts (roundabout, glorieta, circular thingy in the middle of the street). This junction seems to be tremping friendly, at least for now, while work is still being done.

For tremps (rides) westbound toward Morasha Junction, B'nei Braq and Tel-Aviv, stand at the bus shelter before the kikar. The road going north out of Ariel has thinned. It is a lot more common now for rides to stop at the bus shelter. Previously, the other option was to stand at the destroyed bus shelter on the westbound side of Road No. 5, where cars turning left out of Ariel could not usually make it over the right side of the road, even if they wanted to, making it very frustrating to wait there, while watching the countless cares pass you by.

The kikar also seems to help trempistim in all directions, as it forces cars to slow down.

There is another trempiada near the southern entrance into Ariel, near the Judea and Samaria University Center, and used mostly by students. It is usually very crowded, and I do not know how efficient it is to wait there at night, unless you don't mind hopping on the bus if it comes first.

For tremps eastbound toward Tapu'ah, the Jordan Valley, and Elon Moreh, stand in the usual place, on the eastbound side of Road No. 5, catching cars as they exit the kikar at a reduced speed. The bus shelter is still there, and it is now more logical to wait there.

Reminder:
If you're tremping southbound to Rehelim, Eli, Shilo, or Jerusalem, many people wait on the road into Ariel, at the bus shelter just after entering from the kikar. This is instead of tremping to Tapu'ah first, and continuing on from there. People coming home to the towns listed mostly make their way along the shortcut through Ariel these days.

Of course, there is the other trempiada at the southern exit from Ariel. People like to catch tremps from the bottom of the hill, at the northern entrance, for the increased likelihood of the availability of space.

Please add your tremping updates for this area in the comments section.

Also, don't forget to check out my comprehensive Tremping Guide for the major travel routes in Israel.

3 comments:

Batya said...

Thanks!
Ya'aqov, any chance that you could sketch out the new traffic circle indicating all the places to wait? It would help. I'm confused. It's all very disorienting.
For tremping to Shiloh from the college, it has really helped ever since they moved the bus stop to the tremp place. It's impossible to be two places at once and there wasn't enough time to run the distance if suddenly the bus came.

Leora said...

I tagged you in a meme:
See the second part about the meme

Esser Agaroth said...

I hope the map makes it clearer.

:-)