Tel Aviv central bus station, also known as the new central bus station (התחנה המרכזית החדשה, HaTahana HaMerkazit HaHadasha), is the main bus station of Tel Aviv, Israel. Located in the south of the city, it was opened on August 17, 1993. It is the second largest bus station in the world. The station in Tel Aviv covers 230,000 m2 and a total area of 44,000 m2. On 24 October 2021, the Tel Aviv Court for Local Affairs has issued a closure order for the Tel Aviv New Central Bus Station from December 2021. History Construction began on December 14, 1967, but work was prematurely halted due to financial difficulties. The building was finally inaugurated on August 18, 1993. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the mayor of Tel Aviv Shlomo Lahat. The station's prolonged construction period gave it the title of white elephant among the public, and in light of this, the inauguration ceremony included releasing a white elephant balloon into the sky. The station, which was designed by Ram Karmi (1967) and completed (1993) by the architects Yael Rothshild, and Moti Bodek, opened with six floors, and the initial plan called for buses to travel to all six. In practice, only four of the six floors were used as bus terminals, and in 1998 the first- and second-floor platforms were transferred to the newly opened 7th floor. This act killed off the remaining businesses on the first two floors and hurt businesses on the third. In earlier stages of planning, the station was intended to have just two stories, one for commerce and one for buses. Disagreements between the two main bus companies led to a third floor, so there would be one floor for each bus company. To obtain more funding after construction stalled in the 1970s, an extra floor of retail was added. This process was repeated several times, until the station had six floors total. The seventh floor was added to replace the bottom two floors, after high pollution levels were discovered on those floors. The station was deliberately designed to be confusing, so that commuters would spend more time around the stores, and thus more money. When designed the station was in Tel Aviv's downtown, but by the time it opened the business center had migrated north, and the station's neighborhood had become peripheral and impoverished. One abandoned area