Today, at the time of writing this article, van No. 4 drivers are considering raising the fare from LL 15,000 to LL 20,000, while the dollar exchange rate is over LL 30,000 liras. You might say: “Well, this means that the ride costs half a dollar.” But the equation of cost and the price of goods is not inversely proportional, as today’s salaries go back to pre-crisis times, and 80% of residents are at or below the poverty line.
The crisis
The parliamentary elections were recently held with results better than expected, but they cannot be relied on to emerge from the collapse. Before the elections, the collapse occurred and persists now, as we expected. During the collapse the coronavirus pandemic broke out, and before the collapse the uprising broke out. In parallel to those landmarks, the gasoline crisis recurs periodically.
It is called a gasoline crisis due to the shortage of fuel in gas stations, and the queues of cars lining up in front of them. The sight of the queues is sufficient to infer that the crisis is not only a gasoline, but a transport crisis. There is a large number of private cars in contrast to limited public transport, and if any, it is subject to the law of chaos and monopoly: each party/clan has its own line of operational public transport.
As for the State, frankly speaking, it provided the old big buses known as جحش الدولة, but has not launched a new initiative since then. Rather, there have been proposals to privatize the transport sector, which means extra burdens on passengers and additional profits for private companies owned by politicians.
Just a few days ago, on 23 May last, Lebanon received 50 public transport buses from France, with the follow-up endured by the Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh. The buses were received outside any public transport plan, but the mechanism of operationalizing them is not yet known, and they may produce opposite results due to traffic congestion. Unfortunately, this initiative was undertaken after the previous government failed to use a soft loan of $295 million from the World Bank to reform the public transport sector in Lebanon.
Passengers
All types of vehicles queued, except for bicycles. This is on the vehicle side. But what about the passengers’ side? Bus, service/taxi, van or private car passengers?
In August 2021, the Central Bank announced that it would lift subsidies on fuel imports. This was one of the hardest blows dealt by the collapse. The streets of Lebanon will not be the same again thereafter. Beirut will never be the same again. The bus stations (initially non-existent), will remain empty, very few people will walk in the streets, and stupid tricks will be used to circumvent the crisis.
One of these tricks is the use of the bicycle whose scope remains limited, while the hot weather and Lebanon’s roads inappropriately equipped for this type of transport do not help much. In fact, Lebanon's roads, with congested traffic and potholes, turn the bicycle into a very dangerous means of transport.
Another trick consists of opting for new transport platforms such as Uber or Bolt, to avoid the trouble of queuing. But the cost of this transport is affordable to a specific social group, and the problem is only solved for them, while the majority of people spent the night in front of gas stations and woke up at dawn to reserve a place in the queue.
Then a number of passengers/workers have had to face their fate: the cost of going to work is higher than their salaries. So what to do? Especially that the option of working from home is not available in all jobs, and in Lebanon’s case it is available to very few people.
This reality imposed a forced suspension of work, and the search for other jobs that are not subject to transport conditions.
The escalating crisis
However, it soon became apparent that the transport crisis was reflected in all sectors. We have heard in the grocery stores that this the price of this commodity has increased due to the high cost of delivery from the producer to the consumer, although it is locally made and the cost of the materials used in its production is calculated in Lebanese pounds.
Many of our customs have changed. We are going less frequently from the city to our villages as the ride is costly. A friend of mine paid LL 1,000,000 to visit his family in the Bekaa by taxi, compared to more than LL 200,00 for a van fare, and more than LL 600,000 for an Uber fare.
Those who took Uber taxis began to take a service/taxi, while those who used to take a service/taxi began to take a van, and those who used to take a van felt disappointed and walked on foot.
The passengers were supposed to have their lives turn upside down during the slightest crisis, as the transport network is too weak to endure crises, simply because the State decided that it is unnessary to have public, safe, and organized public transport.
This is in line with the domination of neoliberalism in our consumer society and its influence on rationale for ownership and mobility: each person should own their own car, and the car must be special so that the person is distinguished. Just as the State has intended to fragment the means of transport for decades, this implies the fragmentation of social relations and communication circles.
Historically, Lebanon shifted from the tramway, which carries a large number of passengers with various intellectual, regional and social class backgrounds, to buses which now carry a smaller number of passengers, after which the old big buses known as جحش الدولة rose to eclipse the tramway. After a shor time, the old big buses faded away with the rise of vans, followed by private cars. Thus, the number of passengers decreased from 60, to 40, 20, 4, and 1.
This decline is so severe that changing and reversing it is only possible because of the collapse, and as such every 2 persons would use 1 car for both of them. And then they would try to use the same car along with 2 others. The idea of car pooling has become dominant.
Stereotyping
The gap lies in the fact that what has been mentioned so far reflects the fluctuations in the passengers’ relationship with the means of transport, depending on financial instability. In fact, this matter is not the only criterion. Social and psychological criteria play an important role in choosing a means of transport in Lebanon, even if this is more costly.
These criteria fall into two categories:
1. The criteria willingly used by passengers, such as identifying with the idea that a private means of transport reflects the higher social status of the passengers, whereas the van, for example, reflects their lower class status. Therefore, passengers choose to obey the rules of “Lebanese prestige”, even if they have to incur the cost of appearances and illusory criteria.
2. Criteria imposed on passengers beyond their control, such as harassment and related crimes against female passengers using public transport when they sit next to the driver or even behind him, or even passengers who choose to masturbate in vans, for example! Add to this harassment not related to gender issues, starting with smokers inside public transport vehicles, down to pickpocketing, thefts/robberies, and the lack of safety.
Therefore, it is hard to think of restructuring the public transport sector only from a financial angle, since its problems go beyond finances. It is hard to rehabilitate this sector without considering serious changes related to the social, gender and psychological attitude towards this sector. It is also hard to resolve matters related to these two angles alone on a piece-by-piece basis, outside any comprehensive public transport plan in Lebanon.
Will the collapse shake the authorities and warn them about the severe crisis hitting the ride fares that has eclipsed profits? Will the collapse compel the State to take advantage of the current transport problems to seek meaningful and sustainable solutions, away from patcning things up? Hopefully, the passengers will someday take buses that are full of life, and the city will recapture its role as a bustling, not a ghost, city.