Rav Kav means “many lines”

There used to be a special and culturally unique way of dealing with bureaucracy in Israel. Technology has destroyed it.

A “rav kav” is a card which serves as a method of payment for public transportation on trains, buses and shared yellow taxis in Israel. It is akin to an Octopus card in Hong Kong, a Nol card in Dubai or an London Oyster card.

At the age of 75, people exchange their rav kav for a card which enables free public transportation, or the card that one already carries can be reprogrammed to stop deducting fares on your upcoming birthday.

Doing simple things in Israel is always difficult, and carrying out this procedure is no different. A rav kav service station is located only in 2 train stops, the busiest stations, in the heart of Tel Aviv, at haShalom and Tel Aviv Central.

In the past, Israelis were well known for bending rules, breaking rules and by-passing the system. Israeli could invent by-passes for almost everything as long as there was good will and/or knowing the right people, the latter was called Vitamin P, for “protection”.

Rav Kav is highly automated. Change can only be made 14 days before one’s birthday in the case of reaching the 75 year old goal post.

I arrived at the Rav Kav service centre 16 days before my birthday. I waited in a long line; I am not known for my patience. When I reached the booth, the service provider was sending WhatsApp and had an earphone in one ear. In a thick undetectable accent (but probably Transylvanian) , he told me to come back in 2 days.

I asked him if he can “do me a favour” and enter the data now. “System is blocked; no more “Israbluf” (beating the system). Next!”

The “system” vanquished the cultural trait of beating the system. The sad part is that most of the systems are either down, or serve as a Berlin wall preventing the use of common sense.

Technology is flattening us all into one boring lump. And we are all becoming the same: dull as piss on a plater.