Transportation

Tel Aviv is a major transportation hub, with many major routes of the national transportation network passing through the city.

Bus and taxi

As with the rest of Israel, bus transport is the most common form of public transport and is very widely used. The Tel Aviv Central Bus Station is in the south of the city. The main bus network in Tel Aviv is operated by Dan Bus Company; the Egged Bus Cooperative, the world's second-largest bus company, provides intercity transportation.The city is also served by local and inter-city share taxis, known locally as "'moniyyot sherut'". Many local and inter-city bus routes also have sherut taxis that follow the same route and display the same route number in their window. Fares are standardised within the region and are comparable to or less expensive than bus fares. Unlike other forms of public transport, these taxis operate on Friday night and Saturday (the Jewish sabbath "Shabbat"). Private taxis are white with a yellow sign on top. Fares are standardised and metered, but may be negotiated ahead of time with the driver.

Rail

Tel Aviv has four train stations along the Ayalon Highway. The stops from north to south are: University station, Tel Aviv Central station, Hashalom station (adjacent to Azrieli Center) and Tel Aviv Hahaganah (near the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station). It is estimated that over a million passengers travel by train from the surrounding cities to Tel Aviv each month. Trains do not operate on Saturday and holidays.

Roads

The main highway leading to the city is the Ayalon Highway (Highway 20), which runs along the eastern side of the city from north to south along the Ayalon River riverbed, dividing for the most part Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan. Driving south on the Ayalon gives access to Highway 1, leading to Ben Gurion International Airport and Jerusalem. Within the city, main routes include Kaplan Street, Allenby Street, Ibn Gabirol Street, Dizengoff Street, Rothschild Boulevard, and in Jaffa the main route is Jerusalem Boulevard. Namir Road connects the city to Highway 2, Israel's main north-south highway, and Begin/Jabotinsky Road, which provides access from the east through Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak and Petah Tikva. Tel Aviv, accommodating about 500,000 commuter cars daily, suffers from increasing congestion. In 2007, the Sadan Report recommended the introduction of a congestion charge similar to that of London in Tel Aviv as well as other Israeli cities. Under this plan, road users traveling into the city would pay a fixed fee.
Tel Aviv Municipality is trying to encourage the use of bicycles in the city, aiming to open 100 bicycle-rental stations to serve 74 kilometers (46.0 mi) of bicycle paths. The bicycle route network has grown substantially in recent years.

Air

The main airport serving Tel Aviv is Ben Gurion International Airport (IATA: TLV). Located in the neighboring city of Lod, it is the main airport of Israel. The airport serves both international flights and domestic flights, and uses the main hub of El Al, Arkia Israel Airlines, Israir Airlines and Sun D'Or International Airlines. The airport is 15 kilometres (9 mi) southeast of Tel Aviv, on Highway 1 between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It had traffic of 11 million passengers in 2008, and rated as the best airport in the Middle East. Another airport in the Tel Aviv area, Sde Dov (IATA: SDV), in northwestern Tel Aviv, serves a small number of domestic flights and may be closed in favor of real-estate development. In the future all services to Sde Dov will transfer to Ben Gurion Airport.

Light rail

The first line of a light rail system is under construction and scheduled to open in 2016. The Red Line starts at Petah Tikva's Central Bus Station, east of Tel Aviv and follows the Jabotinsky Road (Route 481) westwards at street level. At the point were Jabotinsky Road and Highway 4 intersect the line drops into an underground tunnel for 10 km (6.21 mi) through Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan and Tel Aviv and emerges again to street level just before Jaffa, were it turns southwards towards Bat Yam.
The underground section will include 10 stations, including an interchange with Israel Railways services at Tel Aviv Central Railway Station and the nearby 2000 Terminal. A maintenance depot, connected via a branch line and tunnel to the main section of the line, will be constructed in Kiryat Arye, across from the existing Kiryat Arye suburban railway station. The owner of the first line, MTS, has had financial difficulties that postponed the line's opening. In May 2010, the treasury decided to cancel the agreement with MTS due to the difficulties and the agreement cancelled in August 2010. The first opening target was 2012 and today the target is 2016 after several postponements.