Today it was announced that KAN (the official Israeli Broadcaster of Eurovision 2019) and Rav-Kav Online have reached an agreement to provide Rav Kav travelcards for free to visitors, including delegations, who travel to Tel Aviv for the Eurovision Song Contest.
The cards will come loaded with an initial (to be confirmed) amount of credit to allow travellers to initially get from Ben Gurion Airport into the city centre, and then the cards can be topped up at machines located all over Tel Aviv. They normally cost a non refundable amount of NIS 5 and are only available at certain locations.
The Rav Kav card has replaced the use of money on Israel’s buses and trains and must be used by tapping the card onto the relevant machine when boarding a bus or entering or exiting a train station. The contest itself is being held near the Tel Aviv University train station and the card will allow visitors to reach the venue as long as there is sufficient credit on the card.
To make using the card easier a Rav Kav app will launched in English as well as a website to help visitors manage and use their cards. The cards will be distributed at the following places:
- Ben Gurion Airport
- Various Tel Aviv Hotels
- The Eurovision Village
- Expo Tel Aviv
The cards will be issued with a starter kit that will include explanations about how to load the card. You can load the cards at central bus station ticket windows, at railway station ticket windows, at machines in the street, and – particularly in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where the buses are now cashless – at shops and kiosks all over the city, wherever you see the sign “Charge your Rav-Kav Here”. You can do it using cash (shekels only) or a credit card.
In addition it has been announced that on the day of the final, which falls on the Shabbat, there will be free shuttles provided on several routes which will be announced shortly.
Furthermore we can also reveal that the Taxi app Gett will be providing free taxi rides for the 41 delegations to and from the venue for the rehearsals, semi-finals and final.
What do you think of this news if you’re visiting Tel Aviv? Let us know in the comments.
It’s great they came to agreement! For those that want to use taxis I recommend you download the get taxi app, it’s the leading one in israel. Also use the coupon code GETT_EURO at your 5 first rides, it’ll save you 10 nis off (of each ride).
Great initiative by the locals! Thanks for the info.
I’m going to give it a shot, though I have to say that I personally prefer getting a taxi whenever I travel. These “free rides” tend to be crowded