and that problem is transport

I have been living in Tel Aviv and attending class in Netanya. As the crow flies it is 15 miles from the apartment in Florentin to the ulpan in Poleg. The commute has given me an opportunity to explore public transportation. I took trains and buses, transferring at numerous locations. The best option by a fair margin of both time and comfort is to take a sherut, which I think is translated as a shared cab, from the central bus station in Tel Aviv to the Udim bus station on Route 2 (with a 10-15 minute walk on either end).

A sherut is generally a 10-passenger van, and there is probably a sherut that goes where you're going for a reasonable price. I don't know if it is possible to make a more precise statement than that.

Sometimes a sherut follows a bus route, sometimes not. Sometimes a sherut has its own numbered route, sometimes not. Sometimes a sherut will come along in a minute or two, sometimes not. Sometimes the driver will allow you to board for a few stops, and sometimes he will refuse unless you are going all the way to his destination.

The sherut driver knows his route, but there are no route maps. The sherut driver knows the price of a journey from one stop on his route to another, but there are no fare schedules. (As far as I know.)

A sherut is more comfortable than a bus but less comfortable than a train.

One time a sherut driver kicked me out of his van before I had reached the destination I paid for. Another sherut picked me up and took me the rest of the way (at no additional charge).

And for all that, the sherut fleet seems to be a pretty decent system. Because the vehicles are smaller, they come more frequently than buses and add to the variety of routes it is possible to travel.

The only problem is finding the right sherut. I've gotten comfortable asking strangers if they know which bus goes where I'm going. About 40% of the people I ask offer a plausible answer, and about 50% of the answers are both helpful and correct.