The highway leading from the Ben-Gurion Interchange toward Tel Aviv was blocked to traffic on Thursday evening due to a protest by taxi drivers.
Taxi drivers have been protesting for a few weeks and are now striking outside Ben-Gurion and Ramon Airports due to a change in calculating intercity taxi fares which will go into effect on Sunday. The taxi drivers claim that the change will lower inter-city travel prices by 30% and "take their livelihood away from them and bury them."
The Transportation Ministry stated that according to its research, intercity prices will only drop by 12% versus intra-city service, which is increasing by 6%. The Ministry added that that prices for inter-city service have been very high.
The strike outside Ben-Gurion and Ramon Airports began at 1 p.m on Thursday, with taxi drivers threatening to continue the strike every day herein on, including Fridays, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu instructed Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman to ask the Transportation Ministry to cancel the change and to arrange a mediation process with the taxi drivers, while meanwhile freezing the reduction in fare.