Bus from Jerusalem to Israel’s Airport 1

As of Feb 13, 2017, if you’re traveling light you can now take an inexpensive bus — 16NIS ($4) — from near the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem to Ben-Gurion Airport airport, the international airport of Israel. This makes travel a lot easier for those who wish to start or end their trip in Jerusalem rather than Tel Aviv. (Tel Aviv has a train that goes directly to the airport.)

This new and very welcome bus is run by the Afikim bus company. It is route  #485.

This is great for backpackers, 1-bag travelers, and students coming home for break because it is expected that the rule is one suitcase per passenger.

Bus 485 in Jerusalem

This Ben-Gurion Airpor bus comes to a stop just outside the Central Bus Station, aka CBS or Tachana Merkazit in Hebrew. The bus stop is actually at the corner of Jaffa and Moria street. (See my map image.)

Prior to arriving at the Central Bus Station area, it will stop for pick-up at

• Bus stop #1911, Haknesset and Kaplan. This is the Knesset, Isreal’s government building (aka Parliment of Israel).
• Bus stop #3109 (I haven’t found this stop on a map yet.)
• Bus stop #3108 The Supreme Court at Yoel Zusman/Sussman/Zussman Street

Then it arrives at stop #471, the Tahana Merkazit (Central Station) bus stop on Jaffa (Jaffa) Street near Moriya Street. (Actually a 100 meter, 1-minute walk from the front entrance to the bus station. It arrives there for pick-up at approximately 10 minutes after each hour.

Screen shot of Google Map showing bus stop. Mouse shows Light Rail stop. Red shows the bus stop.

There are then two more stops to pick people up before it drops passengers off at Terminal 1 and Terminal 3, supposedly where the taxis drop people off as well.

Likewise, you can board the bus at these Terminals and ride into Jerusalem.

The bus runs around the clock, 24 hours a day, except when stopping for Shabbat.

The cost is 16NIS, aka Shekels (New Israeli Shekels)

You can view all the bus stops (name, not a map) atafikim-t.co.il/?busline=485
I got to this page by entering the route number. (This is the official the Afikim website. However, the site is 100% in Hebrew. This is one of those times that I do recommend using the Google Chrome web browser since it translates automatically.)

It is said that it will be possible to order your ticket/seat online at the Afikim website, afikim-t.co.il. However, I am not seeing a Buy Tickets area when I read the translated site.

When I travel in Isreal I use bus.co.il to learn about buses. There are English pages. As I write this, bus #485 isn’t listed yet, but I’m sure it will be.

Bus 485 stops

Here is my screen shot of the bus stop listings. I can’t promise its accuracy. This shot was taking late at night on February 15, Israel time.

You can click on it to see a larger image.