The Union of Transportation Companies has sent a letter this morning to the Health Minister, Yuli Edelstein, in which it explains that due to a lack of budgeting, bus companies will not be able to continue disinfecting buses between routes.
The buses concerned are those used to transport students to and from school, as well as people working for the defense establishment and in industry.
Health Ministry regulations require the bus companies to disinfect the buses between routes, but because of a lack of budgeting, the job has fallen to the driver himself to be accomplished during his hours of work, and the bus companies have been forced to cover the costs of cleaning materials themselves.
Bus companies have already sustained serious financial losses due to the epidemic, and continue to sustain losses even now, the Union stated. Israel's bus companies transport around 1.2 million people every day, and the letter to the Health Minister stresses that the companies can no longer afford to carry the financial burden imposed on them, given that they have yet to receive a response from the government on the issues raised.