‘The City Is an Act of Sharing’: New Government Moves To Reboot Lebanon’s Public Transport
Civil society leaders in Lebanon continue to advocate for equitable urban infrastructure despite decades of political inaction
Many in Lebanon see it as a lost cause. They roll their eyes at the idea of efficient public transportation connecting the country’s compact 10,452 square kilometers of coastline and mountains. But a determined few haven’t given up. “We had buses, we had trams, we had locomotives, urban electric trains, we had intercity trains, we had regional freight trains, and now we have nothing,” said Antoine Saadeh, an activist campaigning for the return of rail service in Lebanon.
We had buses, we had trams, we had locomotives … and now we have nothing
“We love our country,” Saadeh told The Media Line. “This is what motivates us to fight, to offer future generations a better country, because we believe that when we have a healthy, broader public space, there will be more participation, more stability, and more peace among diverse communities,” he said. “Now we don’t have a space where diversity can meet, because public space is getting smaller and smaller,” he added.
Public—or more accurately, shared—transportation in Lebanon today consists mostly of service taxis and minibuses. But most people rely on private cars. In a country of roughly 6 million people, there are more than two million vehicles. Yet not everyone can afford to own or maintain one, as Lebanon remains mired in what the World Bank ranks among the worst economic crises globally since 1850.
Faced with limited options, a semiformal transport network sprang up decades ago, made up of aging vans and sluggish minibuses. These follow set routes, but without fixed schedules or official stops, pulling over wherever a passenger requests.
Following the end of the Lebanese civil war, public transportation deteriorated further. A small fleet of aging, state-owned buses still operates, though they carry fewer than 20,000 passengers a day. Meanwhile, over 4,000 private buses and minibuses are registered, but estimates suggest more than twice that number are actually on the road.
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“Many people are afraid to use this informal network of vehicles for various reasons, such as sexual harassment, delays, the fact that it is unreliable, and because it is dangerous, as the drivers drive recklessly,” urban planner Maha Azzi told The Media Line. Yet across the country, remnants of another era still exist: Rusted railway tracks once linked Beirut to Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and beyond.
The first steam train rolled out of Beirut in August 1895, launching over 408 kilometers of track that crisscrossed the country. A century ago, trains carried goods from the French port of Marseille to Beirut, then onward to Haifa and the region’s major capitals—Damascus, Baghdad, Amman, and Constantinople.
Like much of Lebanon’s infrastructure, the railway network crumbled in the wake of the civil war. Service declined until it ceased entirely in the early 1990s. Today, remnants of the line are scattered along the Mediterranean coast.
Some former stations have been repurposed or abandoned. Beirut’s central station in Mar Mikhael, a Christian neighborhood overlooking the port, now serves as a garage for a handful of buses. Before the economic collapse, it even operated as an open-air nightclub.
“In the archives, we found that the train not only connected cities, but also built them, due to the enormous anthropological impact of the railway,” said Saadeh. Despite widespread skepticism, a group of train enthusiasts has developed a national master plan to revive the railway. As with many civic initiatives in Lebanon, it’s civil society—not government—that is pushing for integrated public transport.
Azzi often reminds people that “the city is an act of sharing, being a shared public space with shared services and amenities.” Years of grassroots advocacy have given rise to various projects helping Lebanese society get by in the absence of official transit.
The city is an act of sharing, being a shared public space with shared services and amenities
Signs of change may finally be appearing. The new government, led by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and President Joseph Aoun, seems to be paying attention. “We see a light, a small ray of hope, because the government is taking this issue very seriously and is launching a kind of public transport service,” Azzi said.
We see a light, a small ray of hope, because the government is taking this issue very seriously and is launching a kind of public transport service
In recent weeks, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Works and Transport, through its Railways and Public Transport Directorate, introduced new bus routes “as part of its ongoing plan to improve public transport services and offer citizens safer and more efficient travel options,” according to an April statement.
