Shabbat bus ‘message-in’ inspires other activists to crowdsource protests

Social media-driven political activism took a new turn over the weekend, when secular groups demanding that buses be allowed to run in Tel Aviv on Shabbat staged a “message-in” using popular traffic reporting software Waze. The activists used the chat feature of Waze to express their dissatisfaction with the fact that public transportation does not run in Tel Aviv and other major cities on Saturdays. The group sponsoring the protest, Free Israel, called the event a success — and activists for other causes took note as well, with some saying that they planned to use networks like Waze for their own projects.

Waze, used by nearly a million people daily, is one of the most popular social networking applications in Israel. Using a combination of GPS technology, crowdsourcing, and social networking, Waze lets drivers know if they are likely to hit traffic — or to chance upon a police officer looking for speeders — on the way to their destination. Waze analyzes the data and recommends the best route, and in the event of a sudden tie-up due to an accident or other unexpected event, the app (available for all smartphones) will recommend route changes on the fly.

Waze also enables drivers to communicate with each other while on the road, and it’s this feature the Free Israel group took advantage of for their protest. Users sent out messages complaining about the lack of transportation options on the network, with all Waze users seeing comments like “Buses to and from hospitals were forced to stop due to religious coercion,” and “Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz won’t let me on the bus.” Dozens of people texted “Where’s the bus?,” a tongue-in-cheek comment for Waze users, nearly all of whom are drivers.

The point of using Waze was to protest the fact that the only way to get around Tel Aviv was by car since buses weren’t available, said Ilai Har-Segor of the Free Israel group. “Waze use has become a way of life for many drivers who are forced to use a car because there is no alternative transportation available,” Har-Segor said. “We found that Waze offered an innovative way to reach many people around the city with the same concerns we have, and ‘gather’ them virtually for a protest that they would not have been able to attend physically.”

Other groups said that they, too, would use Waze and other crowdsourcing apps to organize innovative protests of their own. “I think the Waze app would be a great way to get more Israelis to visit Judea and Samaria, especially those who’ve never been there,” said activist Shmuel Ben-Yosef. Activists could send out messages advertising events using Waze chat to drivers who were already on the road, showing residents of “Israel proper” a side of the country they usually don’t get to see, he said.

“This is a great idea for days like Yom Ha’atzma’ut or Hol Hamo’ed, when the popular outdoor and picnic areas are overcrowded,” Ben-Yosef added. “There are some beautiful destinations just a few minutes away from the population centers that many residents of the large cities don’t know about. If this could work to organize a protest about buses, it would work to bring more Israelis to Judea and Samaria.”