Trying to find a parking space amid Tel Aviv’s noisy tangle of streets can be as daunting a task as forging a lasting peace in the Middle East, so the launch this week of a light rail system years in the making could be expected to be met with unanimous glee.

As a measure of how most everything in Israel today is fraught with politics, though, the mayor of Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai, chose to boycott the ceremonial launch on Thursday. The modern trams were to start rolling out across the crowded Tel Aviv metro area at 5:40 on Friday morning.

The problem for Mr. Huldai and many other residents of Israel’s most freewheeling city is what happens on Saturday — or what does not.

That is because the new light rail will stop running three hours before Shabbat, the traditional Jewish day of rest, and will operate for only 45 minutes on Saturday evenings. In a video statement ahead of the project’s ceremonial inauguration, Mr. Huldai said of skipping the event, “This is my protest,” adding that “the light rail must also operate and serve the public on weekends, as is fitting in a liberal and democratic country.”

It was in part a case of sour grapes for the man who more than most championed a modern transportation project meant to alleviate congestion but that has in its long construction phase tied up Tel Aviv traffic and hurt some local businesses in the process. Only recently the mayor told the Israel business newspaper Globes, “This is a true revolution. … In six years the city will be networked with 64 stations, meaning there will be a train station within 500 meters of every person in the city. This will be a different city in every respect.”

Despite skipping the opening ceremony, which took place at Petah Tikva, Mr. Huldai indicated he would be among the first Israelis to hop on board for a ride on Friday morning. Ground broke on the Red Line, the first of three planned lines, in 2015 and cost a reported $5 billion. The line will transport passengers 15 miles from Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, to Petah Tikva east of it, via a network of 34 stations. 

In between Petah Tikva and Tel Aviv is Bnei Brak, a densely populated, predominantly Orthodox city through which the new Red Line runs, with three stops. While Tel Aviv is a largely secular city that hums with activity 24 hours a day, Shabbat observances are much more strict at Bnei Brak. That is one reason why a pledge from a former Israeli transportation minister, Merav Michaeli, for the line to run on Shabbat likely would not have gotten off the ground. 

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Petah Tikva on Thursday, which Prime Minister Netanyahu attended with his wife Sara, the new transportation minister, Miri Regev, thanked the mayor of every city served by the Red Line except for Mayor Huldai. Earlier in the week, at a separate launch event at Jaffa, Ms. Regev was booed by anti-government protesters. Ms. Michaeli, who is now in the opposition, was  not invited to Thursday’s ceremony. 

At that event the din from road blockages and demonstrators nearby protesting Israel’s judicial reform plan reportedly made Mr. Netanyahu raise his voice as he declared, “Today we’re connecting the country — between cities, inside cities, and between states.” The latter part of that statement was seen as a reference to the eventual possibility of a modern rail link between Israel and Saudi Arabia. He also said, “This line will serve everyone — those who support us and those who oppose us. This is a festive day for Israel.”

Yet the launch of the Tel Aviv light rail has brought to the fore the longstanding issue of public transportation on Shabbat and Jewish holidays in Israel. While some buses and the sherut, or shared service taxis, do run throughout the weekend in the Tel Aviv area, moving about on Shabbat in particular can still be a challenge for secular Israelis who do not own cars. 

Owning a car in Israel is, not surprisingly, an expensive and often frustrating proposition, given the levels of congestion not only at downtown Tel Aviv but at surrounding commuter towns. 

That makes the inauguration of the Red Line, ​​”the backbone of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area’s mass transit system,” as the NTA, Israel’s mass transit agency puts it, a welcome development for most. 

Yet against the backdrop of mounting divisions between religious and secular Israelis, about the best that can be expected for the new addition to the seaside city’s transportation scene is a mix of cheers and gripes.

On Friday passengers can ride the gleaming new rails free of charge. Thereafter journeys within Tel Aviv will cost five shekels, or about $1.30. That is considerably less expensive than a Tel Aviv parking place — or a parking ticket, as this correspondent can attest.