In 2016, our initiative was selected out of 20 initiatives to have the technical support of SwitchMed, which helped us present our project in Spain. Adopting the concept of “Excel with what exists” was what made our work and a part of our success different. This concept that starts from accepting the reality of the sector to working on developing it in another stage. Some challenges began to occur. We tried to face them as much as possible. One of the challenges was to change the initiative into an association known as the “Riders’ Rights”. It took us three years to obtain the license. The association was founded to put the passengers’ views and problems at the heart of any process of development and improvement of the system of public transportation.
Before the economic and financial crisis, many people refused to just think about using the public transport, such as buses, vans, and taxis, without being aware of the identity of the sector or without using it once in their lifetime. The only reason was the reputation attributed to this sector long time ago. In Lebanon, the sector of public transport depends on the individual initiative, similarly to all sectors in general, through the investment in purchasing a red plate that allows its owner to provide public transport services across all the Lebanese territory without exception. The transport sector gets its identity from here. The transport sector is not organized collectively. Moreover, it relies on services provided by individuals to serve the society. Therefore, one of the first stigmas affecting this sector is being disorganized and random in terms of its services. This issue is not accurate. The sector of red plate buses and vans organizes itself through specified and well known lines. This is reflected on the map and the platform of public transport that we launched. Families or individuals manage most of these lines collectively on daily basis, and each line separately.
Lines often rely on supply and demand. You won’t find an active line if it’s not profitable. These are probably the negatives of the sector. Services are not available in the underpopulated or low demand areas, where the buses and vans change their work pattern to become on demand. This is what we notice in remote areas, where a resident of the village owns a van, bus, or taxi. Therefore, passengers book their seats earlier. The buses and vans of the cities operate permanently, especially in Beirut, where the frequency of buses is acceptable and ranges for most of them between 10 and 30 minutes per bus. However, most taxis, vans, and buses that connect Beirut to the regions depend on the waiting time to carry passengers. There are around 6,500 buses and vans, and 32,000 red plate cars, in addition to many white plate vehicles that operate on the lines and provide transport services, especially in the peripheries.
The Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MoPWT) has the Railway and Public Transport Authority (RPTA) that provides services through 45 buses only. Such services stopped across Lebanon after the Beirut Port blast. Therefore, we can say that the Ministry’s buses are ghosts. We don’t notice them on roads, and most people were not aware of their presence or even their shape.
On October 17, people went on demonstrations to claim their rights. They blocked the roads. The parking lots and highways turned into squares due the lack of public spaces. If any, there would be restrictions to use or enter such public spaces, as the case of Horsh Beirut, for many years, where you would need a visit authorization request from the municipality. This matter triggers nostalgia to Beirut’s tramway that stopped in 1960s. It drew the first outlines of the modern public transportation and laid the foundations to the definition of a public space in the city. Schools, universities, and centers of public administrations were built along the tramway’s lines. Horsh Beirut was the most important line that we should learn from it how to connect the public transport and public spaces. During the October 17 protests, many activists used the public transport to access many squares in the regions. These protests revived discussion on the freedom of transport and the freedom of expression by blocking the roads. This is a long discussion that we won’t raise for now. More importantly, discussion has started on the subject of transport as a basic right for all and how to express this right on the ground.
In a step that has been delayed for years, the MoPWT regained a part of its role as a controller and organizer of the transport of passengers, after reducing such role for years through its ministers, the former governments, and the ministry’s contractors, in an attempt to share the projects of construction of roads, highways, bridges, and infrastructures that extremely make the room for using cars at the expense of any public transport projects. At the beginning of his mandate, the minister started to announce projects and ideas related to transport more than the asphalt projects; These were probably the first elections, since years ago, when roads were barely covered by the asphalt provided for election purposes. The first project announced by the minister was to ask France to bring 1,000 buses to support public transport; Five months later, a first batch of 50 buses arrived to the Port of Beirut in the presence of the French ambassador and the representative of CMA CGM that took over the operation of transport with the minister of transport. The Lebanese people felt some hope in operating these buses on the roads of Lebanon. Meanwhile, many French citizens living in Lebanon said that this is an opportunity to get rid of these used buses here, as they are disqualified after being used for a long time in Paris.
The buses are here, but they are used, obsolete, and need a lot of maintenance to rehabilitate them for operation again, not to mention the lack of a previous plan to operate the buses; Work is taking place now on an operation plan, after getting a decision from the Council of Ministers to develop a tender by a private company to provide human resources, including workers and drivers among others on demand, to cover the needs of the RPTA to operate the buses. It is important to note that no budget is available for this project up to date. Regardless of the challenges to operate the buses again, especially how to deal with the existing shared transport system and manage competition between the State and the public transport sector, these buses include new specifications for the first time. These buses are equipped with a ramp for wheelchair users. Therefore, they apply the law 220/2000, which obliges the State to operate inclusive buses for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) by 15% out of its fleet.
We hope to complete this plan, in order to operate these French buses on the roads of Lebanon and restore some of this right to this category of people to have their right to transport.
Many people have been considering and continue to consider that public transport is a system that doesn’t concern them, and concerns others, especially before the current crisis. For many people, the transport system was a system to transport workers, immigrants, refugees, and people who are not able to have a car. The shared transport system transport system is dedicated for these groups. They have a private car which is easy to access in the light of soft loans, which were part of the policy to give priority to a transport system that depends on the car. That’s why we notice car companies and gas stations springing up like mushrooms across Lebanon. Not to mention the investments in infrastructure that support this policy, starting from the councils and funds established for this purpose, as the size and length of paved roads are one of the highest rates in the world. Therefore, the existence of these infrastructure on a large scale created separation walls between the communities close to each other, and more confessional and regional cantons.
The existence of public spaces allow communication among the different social fabric. However, the developers of these projects and the vision that promotes the car to prevail in public spaces are against this matter.
In the light of the current financial and economic crisis, people felt more need to use shared transport and the soft mobility especially when fuel prices and transport costs increased by 500%. Transport fees became higher than the minimum wage of employees and workers in Lebanon. Most voices started to claim the presence of public transport to ease the burden of the cost of transport on them. Concepts started to turn into the right to an available public transport for them.
Unfortunately, we didn’t learn, as a society, up to date, even after the new and historical civil wars, how the society should refuse the “divide and rule policy”, which was adopted by the occupiers of our land and the rulers who governed us since the independence up to date. The first policy took place when a decision was taken to stop the tramway services that linked all the city’s neighborhoods, and eased communication, support, and solidarity between all people, in favor of a handful of private and financial interests. The tramway was replaced by what was known by the “State’s bus” after 1964. Many people inherited these interests up to date. Some historical families are controlling the car, oil, and gasoline companies. Stopping the train in 1975 was another crime committed as a result of narrow and financial interests, under the excuse of the train’s high service costs and the loss of its market value in terms of goods transport in favor of air and maritime transport companies, without mentioning the importance of carrying passengers, which were subject to the red plate monopoly at that time.
We are not living a gasoline nor a diesel crisis nowadays, as some people may think. It is a transport and mobility crisis that has been developed for private and narrow interests at the expense of the society’s interest.
It’s time to move towards a mobility justice vision that provides all with the right to mobility without discrimination. Therefore, the pedestrians shall be granted the greatest space on roads to walk safely, while leaving no one behind, especially the PWDs, so that the sidewalks are designed to ease their mobility. This will allow them use the public transport to access their work and study places, and walkouts. Roads will be more safe to ride a bike, which must be the most means used in the city. Public spaces will be gathering places for all and spaces for thoughts, cooperation, and usual differences that contribute to build strong and interconnected communities on the political and cultural levels, starting from the spaces of public transport. Therefore, our slogan will become “all of us means all of us” to build a real and democratic path and create peace in our country.
This article was written during mobility and waiting times in public transport