South

Central Bus Station

Tel Aviv's Central Bus Station - known as the "new" Central Bus Station, may serve as a case-study for city planners around the world. It is the world's biggest bus terminal, which was planned also to be a huge shopping mall. However, poor urban planning and location resulted in one of Israel's biggest urban disasters - its incomprehensible vastness, multiple levels and intertwining corridors make it a model for what an urban jungle would feel like. The planners' hope for an upscale shopping center resulted in hundreds of abandoned spaces. However, over the years, the Central Bus Station has emerged as a cultural center for Tel Aviv's migrant communities, changing the nature of the place to an ethnic indoors market with hundreds of stores offering everything from phone cards to the latest fake Versace sunglasses.