Originally Posted by
BATLV
This is the usual Egged BS - so in fact, you either need to connect at the central bus station ( will take probably close to an hour) or ride for at least 40 minutes to get from north to south. 22 minutes is irrelevant for anyone who stays at the northern hotels.
And the winding route for sure makes it impossible to get from Queen Sheba or Dan to the reef in 22 minutes. I challenge you to ride and time it. The winding routes are common in Israel and make most of bus travel way too long and inconvenient. Add to that congestion, Israeli driving habits and you will understand why Israelis drive ( and add to pollution and congestion).
If you're planning to "connect" at the central bus station, you're probably right. It will take 40 minutes, because you're going the wrong way. But most people won't go to the first bus stop to "connect" to a bus that they can simply take the other way.
I'm not planning to go to Eilat any time soon, but if you can give me some miles for an award ticket, I can surely go there and time it for you!
Honestly, it's at least 20 years since I used bus 15 in Eilat, because I always have a rental car when I'm there. But I've found that the times supplied by Egged are usually correct in other places, so I have no reason to doubt this information.
And, once more, the only "winding" part of this route is that they stick to the one-way street around the hotel area. If you want to serve the north hotels, there's no other way of doing it. If you would take a taxi or a private car from the King Solomon to the Coral Beach, you would have to take exactly the same route as bus 15.