The largest bus company in Israel, and it is ranked on the list of the top ten in the nostalgic poll: "What is most Israeli in your opinion?".
Egged has existed in Israel for over 90 years, and it is an inseparable part of the Israeli experience.
Its buses transport about one million passengers a day—from all communities and sectors, Jews and Arabs, religious and secular, tourists from abroad and domestic tourists.
There isn't an Israeli who doesn't know the green buses that travel on urban and intercity lines to all parts of the country, with the most common logo on Israel's roads. It is hard to find a single Israeli who has not ridden them at least once in their life.
Egged's old logos
Egged's current logo
The logo has changed over the years, and the company has changed too.
Egged has moved forward with the changes taking place in the economy and technology—from a humble beginning as a group of truck drivers back in the early 20th century, it grew and became a company worth billions.
As of 2023, it is still owned by its former and current drivers, or their descendants—several thousand Israelis who each hold a share of great monetary value.
After ninety years of service, Egged is the "queen of public transportation" in Israel.
For decades it had exclusivity on transportation on the urban and intercity lines where it operated. In fact, it was the only company in the country, with the exception of the Gush Dan area, where its small competitor operated: the Dan company. These two companies received generous assistance from the state budget that helped them become the "public transportation" of Israel.
In the 1990s, the government decided to open up the public transportation market to additional companies. Since then, there have been companies that compete with it for market segments and passenger transportation areas.
Despite the competition, Egged remains the largest and most important of all. Its buses transport about a third of the passengers across the country, far more than all its competitors.
As the state turns 75, Egged is an empire of transportation and haulage—it has a huge fleet of 4,000 buses and light rail trains, private transportation, package delivery, a network of garages spread nationwide, and many real estate assets.
Historical bits
Egged began moving at the beginning of the 20th century, the early days of the "Hebrew Yishuv" in the Land of Israel.
A group of truck drivers organized within the framework of a partnership of many people, each of whom held a share of equal value to all. It was called: a "cooperative."
The partnership grew and swallowed other parallel cooperatives in the field of mass transportation, and by the time the state was established, it already had thousands of drivers and buses as partners.
Since then, and for decades, Egged was the sole operator of public transportation in most areas of the country. Its buses transported passengers on urban and intercity lines. They reached every city and every settlement everywhere from Metula to Eilat, even to the most remote places. They did not enter the cities of the center—in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, and all the cities of Gush Dan, the "Dan" cooperative operated, which had exclusivity over passenger transportation within the cities.
Throughout the years of the state's existence, Egged has accompanied its history.
The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) used Egged buses in times of war and in times of peace. Soldiers in the regular army and reserve forces rode Egged on their way to the base. Immigrants from Ben Gurion Airport were transported by Egged to transit camps and absorption centers. Local councils, public and private organizations that needed transportation—all ordered Egged transportation, and its buses transported everyone.
An Egged bus in Lebanon, 1982, during the First Lebanon War
Its reputation comes from good management and excellent organizational abilities. But it could not be the national carrier without the generous assistance of the Israeli government.
Since the day the state was established and for four decades, the government mechanisms embraced the cooperative because they needed one—that could be mobilized immediately for any national mission.
Among the national missions was also the need to maintain a continuous public transportation.
In the first decades of the state, only a few Israelis owned a private car. Most Israeli citizens traveled by public transportation, and the government had a clear interest in making it easier for them on their way to work or on long journeys.
Egged was already ready with its fleet of buses and with the drivers, and was rewarded accordingly—every passenger's ticket was partially subsidized by the Ministry of Transportation. The subsidized price took into account the company's costs for all its activities—even trips that were not economically viable, such as: picking up and dropping off passengers at a station located in a remote settlement or in an urban neighborhood far from the city center.
Egged's profit was not large, but a lot of cash flowed into its coffers. It was liquid money that allowed it to replace its bus fleet from time to time, develop garages, invest in real estate, and become a public transportation empire.
From its establishment until today, Egged has remained a privately owned business.
Each of the drivers who bought a share in the cooperative was an "Egged member"—a partner in a profitable business that was growing at a rapid pace. A person who wanted to be a driver at Egged but did not have the money to buy a share at its high prices, was hired as a salaried driver, whose status was lower than that of an Egged member who owned a share.
Over the years, the number of shareholders increased and reached several thousand drivers. Each of them was considered lucky and aroused envy among their friends and family members—by being a respected professional who owned a share of great value that was increasing from year to year.
In the 1960s and 1970s, their status reached its peak. Like a pilot at El Al, today. In the Israeli experience of those days, it was common to say that they were considered attractive grooms for parents who dreamed of marrying off their daughter to an Egged driver. Provided that he was an Egged member, a shareholder—not a salaried driver.
Since the 2000s, the social status of Egged drivers has changed.
The use of private cars increased. Public transportation remained in use mainly for the population from weaker social strata. They were joined by those who gave up traveling in a private car and, for convenience, preferred the Egged bus—this is a spacious bus equipped with all the innovations of the 21st century, and it arrives in a reasonable time for the convenience of the passengers. The opening of the market to competition brought buses of other companies to Israel's roads, buses in a variety of colors with different logos transport passengers from station to station, but Egged is still the most common Israeli brand.
The organizational structure of Egged has not changed over the years.
The most significant change is the fact that today it is not a cooperative but a limited company that has many subsidiaries. Its shareholders are drivers, both past and present, and today also many of the descendants of veteran drivers. They elect the management, and they gather for general meetings from time to time, to choose and vote for or against significant decisions.
A shareholder in Egged is still considered a person who holds a valuable asset, but the number of active drivers who are also members is decreasing. Most of the drivers in the company are salaried employees who work for a large employer that no longer has the signs of the communal "cooperative" of the past. Their employer, the Egged company, pays them a salary that is not particularly high, which is based on business calculations and economic viability that will keep the share at a high value.
As the state turns 75, there are those who want to buy the shares. Egged is waiting for an "exit"—for the big investor to come, pull out a check from their pocket, and give them a respectable return for being a successful Israeli symbol.
This is part of "The Israeli Story 1948-2025" project.
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