On Jaffa Street in Jerusalem, one can now find perhaps the most relaxed job in the city \u2013 maybe even the world.
Two municipal inspectors sit on folding chairs at a closed light rail station, with one task only: to inform passersby, again and again, that there is no light rail today. No whistles, no trains, no movement \u2013 just shade, two bottles of water, and some casual conversations with pedestrians<\/p>\n
While in most cities, an inspector\u2019s job involves enforcement, supervision, or assistance, in Jerusalem it seems that \u201csitting and informing\u201d has become a new kind of public service. The same scene repeats itself all day long: people ask, and the inspectors respond \u2013 calmly and with a smile: the train isn\u2019t running. This might indeed be the calmest job in the city \u2013 maybe even the oddest one<\/p>\n
On May 21, 2025, work began to connect the existing red line of the light rail to the new green line, expected to open in 2026. During this period, service on the central section \u2013 from the central station to Givat HaMivtar \u2013 has been suspended, including nine stations along Jaffa Street<\/p>\n
To assist passengers, four free shuttle bus lines were activated, and several existing bus lines were extended and reinforced. However, both the municipality and the Ministry of Transportation admitted that these current alternatives are not expected to fully meet the demand, especially during the busy summer period<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the southern segment \u2013 from the central station to Hadassah Ein Kerem \u2013 is operating with only one train car, which cuts the capacity in half<\/p>\n
And maybe this picture says it all: a closed station, people waiting, no train \u2013 but yes, inspectors. Sitting, calm, and informing everyone that this is not just temporary \u2013 this is Jerusalem in the summer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Jaffa Street in summer 2025, inspectors calmly tell passersby: the Jerusalem light rail isn\u2019t running \u2014 for weeks ahead<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":82263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"No Train, No Worries: Easiest Job, Summer 2025","_seopress_titles_desc":"On Jaffa Street in summer 2025, inspectors calmly tell passersby: the Jerusalem light rail isn\u2019t running \u2014 for weeks ahead","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[184],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-82262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-184"},"acf":{"subtitle":"On Jaffa Street in summer 2025, inspectors calmly tell passersby: the Jerusalem light rail isn\u2019t running \u2014 for weeks ahead"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}