Jerusalem light rail to begin charging fares - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Despite the problems, which have ranged from suspicious objects near the tracks and fistfights between Jewish and Arab passengers to two strikes by conductors over their work conditions, the rail carries tens of thousands of passengers a day.

On that note, also worth to quote:

Jerusalem's public transport system as metaphor for Israel in 2012 - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Jerusalem's public transport system is a perfect metaphor for the situation in which Israeli society finds itself at the beginning of 2012. The city's three communities are trying to keep their distance from each other...

...few Jewish city residents are aware of this but the Arab population has its own totally separate transport system, with its own central bus station and stops, a network of white buses, operating in the east of the city, and traversing Jewish areas without stopping to connect outlying Arab neighborhoods...

The three communities of Jerusalem are now being forced into the same carriages of the light rail network - years overdue, billions over budget, under speed and with a route of debatable efficiency, but finally up and running. And over the last five months, it has been the one closed space in which members of all the communities have been rubbing shoulders.

The top unfinished-work problems mentoned in the first article have been dealt with since:

Jerusalem readying to phase in major bus reforms - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Routes that run parallel to the light rail will be canceled, while other routes will be shortened so as to "feed" the light rail. Still other bus lines will have their routes altered, their numbers changed or both.

...Officials noted the bus changes were made possible by the improved service on the light rail. Average waiting time for the train is now between seven to eight minutes, as opposed to 19 minutes when it first began rolling in August. This improvement was achieved primarily by the upgrading of traffic lights along the route to "smart lights" that give priority to the rail at intersections.