Getting Around
Is There Uber in Israel? What Works Instead
Updated September 2026 · 5 min read · לגרסה בעברית
The Short Answer
No. Uber left Israel in 2023 and no private-driver ride-hailing service operates here. What you use instead is Gett or Yango, apps that call a licensed metered taxi and take your card. The ride is priced by a Ministry of Transport order, not by the app, so the same trip costs the same whichever one you open. A bill to let private-driver platforms in passed a first reading in March 2026 but did not finish before the Knesset dissolved in July.
The Short Version
You land, you open Uber, nothing. This surprises most visitors, and the fix takes about two minutes: install Gett or Yango, add a card, and order a taxi the same way you would anywhere else. The difference is under the hood. These apps do not connect you with a stranger driving their own car; they dispatch a licensed taxi, white with a yellow roof sign, priced by the national meter.
Why Uber Left
Israeli law lets a licensed taxi carry a paying passenger, and does not let a private driver do it in their own car. Uber operated a limited licensed-taxi product for a while and withdrew from the market in 2023. Lyft has never operated here. This is a regulatory boundary rather than a market one: the demand is obvious, the licence is the obstacle.
The Apps That Work
| App | What it dispatches | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Gett | Licensed metered taxis, nationwide | The dominant app, and the dispatcher behind the official Ben Gurion stand. Kiosks at the airport work without an Israeli phone number. |
| Yango | Licensed metered taxis | The main alternative. Shows a price up front on many rides, which people like, though the meter is still the legal ceiling. |
| Moovit | Not a taxi app | Trip planning and payment for buses, trains and light rail. The one to open before you decide you need a taxi at all. |
Both taxi apps take foreign cards, both work in English, and both will call you a car on Shabbat when the trains have stopped.
What They Cost
The price-control order published on 30 March 2026 sets the meter: ₪12.46 to start, then ₪1.95 per minute and per kilometre in the daytime band, rising to ₪3.79 per kilometre past ten. Night is about 20 percent more and Shabbat evening about 40 percent. An app can charge a booking fee on top and can offer you less, but it cannot charge you more than the meter for the ride itself. In practice that means a taxi from Ben Gurion to Tel Aviv lands around ₪130 to ₪160 in the daytime whichever app you used to call it.
Two habits save arguments. Check that the meter is running on a street-hailed ride, and on an intercity ride agree the price before the car moves, because the law lets you settle on a figure below the meter but not renegotiate afterwards.
Where the Law Stands
A shared-transport bill that would let private-driver platforms operate passed a first reading in the Knesset in March 2026 and went back to the Economic Affairs Committee for its second and third readings. It did not get them. The Knesset dissolved on 17 July 2026 ahead of an election set for 27 October 2026, and a bill that has not completed three readings does not automatically carry over to the next Knesset; reviving it needs a decision by the next government. So: no Uber today, no date to plan around, and anything you read announcing a return should be read as a forecast.
Sharing a Ride
There is no UberPool equivalent here, and no app dispatches a pooled taxi. What is perfectly ordinary is for people going the same way to take one taxi and divide the meter between them, which is how the airport sherut worked before it stopped. Full disclosure, that is what we built: PairMee shows you the people travelling the same way at a similar time, you approve who joins you, and you split the fare directly between yourselves. We do not run the taxi, take a cut, or charge for posting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there Uber in Israel?
Not as a ride-hailing service. Uber withdrew from the Israeli market in 2023 because the law only allows a licensed taxi to carry a paying passenger, and a private driver in their own car cannot. Opening that market needs new legislation, which has not passed.
What do Israelis use instead of Uber?
Gett and Yango. Both are apps that call a licensed, metered taxi to you and take a card, so the experience feels like Uber. The car that arrives is a regular white taxi with a yellow roof sign, and the ride is priced under the same Ministry of Transport tariff as one you flag in the street.
Will Uber come back to Israel?
A bill that would let private-driver platforms operate passed a first reading in the Knesset in March 2026. It did not complete its second and third readings before the Knesset dissolved on 17 July 2026 ahead of the election set for 27 October 2026, so it is unfinished business for the next government rather than a law. Treat any date you read for Uber returning as speculation.
Is Gett or Yango cheaper?
Both dispatch the same regulated taxis, so the ride itself is priced the same. What differs is what the app adds on top: booking fees, promotions and occasional fixed-price offers. Compare the total each one quotes before you confirm, and remember the meter is the legal ceiling either way.
Do the taxi apps work on Shabbat?
Yes. Licensed taxis run through Shabbat and holidays, at the higher tariff bands, which makes them the main door-to-door option when trains and most buses stop.
Can I share a ride with a stranger in Israel, like UberPool?
No app dispatches a pooled ride here. Passengers who are going the same way can share one taxi and split the meter between themselves, which is legal and ordinary; that is what PairMee helps people arrange, and this is our site.
Founder, PairMee
I founded PairMee. The PairMee team writes these guides from the regulated tariff and the published timetables, last checked September 2026.
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