{"id":162,"date":"2025-06-03T02:51:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T17:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/s4q7jq2n.top\/index.php\/2025\/06\/03\/lebanon-on-bumpy-road-to-public-transport-revival\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T02:51:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T17:51:12","slug":"lebanon-on-bumpy-road-to-public-transport-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/03\/lebanon-on-bumpy-road-to-public-transport-revival\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon on bumpy road to public transport revival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

They also offer a respite from driving on Lebanon’s largely lawless, potholed roads, where mopeds hurtle in all directions and traffic lights are scarce.<\/p>\n

The system officially launched last July, during more than a year of hostilities between Israel and militant group Hezbollah that later slammed the brakes on some services.<\/p>\n

Ali Daoud, 76, who remembers Lebanon’s long-defunct trains and trams, said the public bus was “orderly and organised” during his first ride. <\/p>\n

The World Bank’s Beirut office told AFP that Lebanon’s “reliance on private vehicles is increasingly unsustainable”, noting rising poverty rates and vehicle operation costs.<\/p>\n

Ziad Nasr, head of Lebanon’s public transport authority, said passenger numbers now averaged around 4,500 a day, up from just a few hundred at launch.<\/p>\n

He said authorities hope to extend the network, including to Beirut airport, noting the need for more buses, and welcoming any international support.<\/p>\n

France donated around half of the almost 100 buses now in circulation in 2022.<\/p>\n

Consultant and transport expert Tammam Nakkash said he hoped the buses would be “a good start” but expressed concern at issues including the competition.<\/p>\n

Private buses and minivans — many of them dilapidated and barrelling down the road at breakneck speed — cost similar to the public buses.<\/p>\n

Shared taxis are also ubiquitous, with fares starting at around $2 for short trips.<\/p>\n

Several incidents of violence targeted the new public buses around their launch last year.<\/p>\n

Environment<\/p>\n

Student and worker Daniel Imad, 19, said he welcomed the idea of public buses but had not tried them yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beirut (Lebanon) (AFP) \u2013 <\/span> On Beirut’s chaotic, car-choked streets, Lebanese student Fatima Fakih rides a shiny purple bus to university, one of a fleet rolled out by authorities to revive public transport in a country struggling to deliver basic services. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Issued on: 03\/06\/2025 – 04:51<\/span>Modified: 03\/06\/2025 – 04:48<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span> 3 min Reading time<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\"Lebanon's<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-db"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}