Separate but equal: can 'Mehadrin' buses be OK?

There was a time, not so long ago, that "separate but equal" was an acceptable practice in the United States. The concept is quite simple: Communities would establish "colored only" facilities or services for blacks, with the quality of each group's public facilities were (supposedly) equal.
 
Of course the concept never worked, and the facilities of minorities were rarely equal. And even where the facility may have been identical, morality dictates that there be no discrimination based on color.
 
Now, here in Israel, it is women who are being told to go to the back of the bus - literally! Egged, the national/public bus company, has several lines where women must enter from the rear of the bus. Women pulling a "Rosa Parks" risk scorn, if not violence.
 
These so called "Mehadrin lines" (a term usually intended to convey strict adherence to Jewish law) are intended to serve a fervently Orthodox public that would prefer to ride in segregated seating.
 
Is this OK? Well, maybe it is. 
 
Jewish law does not demand segregation. The illustrious Rav Moshe Feinstein ruled that there is no Halachic requirement to have segregation of the sexes on  public transportation. But this does not necessarily mean that it has no place.
 
I believe that a public bus company may seek to meet the needs of a specific segment of its customers - as long as it does not come at a significant cost to others. This means that there may be room for segregated buses. The preferred solution, I believe, is a private bus line that would serve the specific religious demands of the user. But the Egged question made it to the courts yesterday - so it is an issue which needs to be addressed.
 
A Transportation Ministry committee made the following suggestion: Voluntary segregation is OK (at least for a trial period). Passengers riding on these delineated buses may not impose the segregation in any coercive manner, and the bus drivers would have to take responsibility for acting to prevent coercion if it arose.
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that "the committee explained that the underlying principle determining its recommendation was that all passenger buses serving the general public belonged to the public sphere, and every member of the public had the right to use each bus in accordance with basic human rights such as equality and freedom of movement."
 
In the past, it seemed as though the fervently Orthodox would claim an absolute right to set the rules, as though these were private bus lines. Women were to enter only from the rear. They were to sit only in the back of the bus. Some of these bus lines charged a lower fee than the non-segregated parallel lines. The women's sections were often over-crowded while there were seats aplenty in the so-called men's sections. Compliance was enforced by the riders, and the drivers stayed clear of involvement.
 
The Transportation Ministry committee also demanded that "no passenger is obliged to accept this arrangement, and anyone can sit wherever he or she wants. Furthermore, there will be no restrictions on the type of clothing women may wear on these buses."
 
This may be seen as a partial victory for those who seek equality while respecting the rights of each minority (including the Orthodox). Israel is not a theocracy, yet it is a place where Jewish values (and let me be clear that I, personally, do not see separation of the sexes as a Jewish value) stand side by side with democratic ideals.
 
As a person with views that tend to be liberal, and who stands strongly in support of human dignity and freedom, I feel a bit queasy about this blog.
 
Yet riding at the back of the bus may be OK - as long as it is by choice.