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The deterioration of basic services derived from bankruptcy, dollar shortages and austerity will not stop when the electricity supply is cut, the quality of cellular service or the deterioration of health and education services, but will also affect other services public and basic, among which transportation stands out, as a consequence of the rise in the price of the dollar and with it of auto parts, and the continuous bleeding of currencies. And the reduction of the possibility of obtaining fuel in a sustainable way and in sufficient quantities. Traveling in private cars becomes very expensive and perhaps impossible for some, in the absence of a public transport system.
The last passenger journey took place on the Lebanon Train in 1991, then the train continued to carry goods for two years before completely shutting down. Since that day, Lebanon’s residents did not receive fast public transportation and deliberately made up for their denial of public transportation services, using private cars, even if they were in debt. The number of auto loans through the first quarter of 2019 amounted to about 73,000, valued at $ 964 million, or turning to shared private transportation despite its poor services.
Transportation by numbers
The number of cars in Lebanon is estimated at around 1.53 million private cars, which is equivalent to 90% of the total vehicle fleet, and it is observed that 70% of all households in Lebanon own at least a car (89% of urban families or middle and high income). This means that there are 307 cars for every thousand inhabitants. It is a very high rate compared to the world average of 182 vehicles per thousand residents, the rate of the Eastern European countries and Russia (281 vehicles per thousand residents), and even the Middle East average (105 vehicles per thousand residents. ).
Beirut is one of the most automobile cities in the Middle East, with an average of 350 cars per thousand inhabitants, which means a high percentage of cars that insure more than 80% of motorized transport (motor vehicles) and half of restricted transport (between place of residence and place of work / study). And two thirds of the trips without restrictions (for consumption, entertainment, visits …). On the other hand, public transport vehicles provide 40% of restricted trips, a third of unrestricted movements and only around 7% of all trips by the Lebanese people on foot due to the almost total absence of a bicycle.
The political economy of transport
The dominance of the automobile in the Lebanese movement is due to the political economy of the post-civil war period, which weakened public transport services in favor of real estate development, especially in the center, i.e. Greater Beirut and the Mount Lebanon, and ensured the protection of the interests of fuel and automobile importers who benefited from the high income of families resulting from remittances from their migrant members. The resulting social and cultural factors promoted the use of the private car, as well as the policy of expanding automobile infrastructure, such as the road and parking network, and urban and urban expansion.
This reality has produced several negative consequences, among which the suffocating traffic congestion in cities and on the main axes, the high rate of environmental contamination, poor road safety, the stimulus to urban expansion and the loss of large areas stand out. of public space in favor of the construction of roads and parking lots. The social cost of these downloads is estimated at more than 7% of GDP (2015), in addition to a negative social impact represented by the inequality of movement among residents, as is the case in most rich countries with transport systems in car.
Deepening inequality
This policy adopted during the 30 years after the Lebanon war resulted in an inequality in mobility, which is evident by the difference in speed and ease of access between car users and users of other means of transport, and caused by several factors, among which the following stand out:
– The absence of the ability of various social groups to own or use the car (families with limited incomes, the elderly, people with special needs and people who do not have market books …).
– The weakness of the public transport services in Lebanon, as they are not organized and at the same time they are expensive in relation to their quality, and their confinement in Greater Beirut, and therefore their absence in most areas peripherals. Also, car trips are twice as fast as bus trips on urban trips (within Beirut, for example) and 1.3 times faster when traveling between regions (Beirut – Akkar, for example). The difference in speed and accessibility reinforces the inequality between private car users and public transport users.
The economic and demographic distribution in Lebanon, characterized by an urban, demographic, economic and political concentration in Greater Beirut. This increased the attractiveness of this region and stimulated the process of displacement towards it, especially from the periphery and the nearby suburbs. This factor was reinforced by the continuous urban expansion resulting from migration from the outskirts to the city and the reverse migration from the city to the outskirts due to the high cost of living there, whereby private car users enjoy a privilege compared to users of other modes of transport. This privilege allows them to access the center where jobs and services are located more easily, and is further strengthened with the increase in the rate of car use. The greater the number of motorists, the more services are connected to it directly, such as the road network, garages and parking lots, and indirectly, such as commercial places.
About 70% of the poorest families in Lebanon do not own a car
Inequality is also demonstrated by mobility allowances within the family budget. In countries whose residents rely heavily on private cars for their transportation, such as Lebanon, the cost of transportation is high, especially in terms of the costs of owning, consuming, and maintaining a car and buying fuel. In practice, mobility allowances represent around 13% of families’ income and 14% of their total expenses, which is a relatively high cost that reinforces inequality between families based on their income and puts pressure on them. , which increases with the decrease in income level, which generates the risk of “social exclusion”.
Given that the poorest families have the least access to a car (around 70% of the poorest families in Lebanon do not have a car), and in the absence of an advanced and sustainable public transport system, these families find themselves facing a low range and speed of access to services and jobs compared to the rest of families. This decrease becomes more effective if poor families live on the periphery far from the center.
May God bless Arab women!
With the worsening of the economic crisis, the deterioration in the value of the lira and dependence on imports to ensure consumption related to the use of the car (vehicles, fuel and spare parts) on the one hand, and the decrease in the value of income and the increase in the poverty rate on the other, it seems that we are heading towards a new type of inequality in mobility, which is summarized in the restriction of the privilege of mobility. Easily and freely with high-income families. The use of the private car will become expensive for a large segment of society, prompting them to abandon them, or use them and incur their high costs at the expense of other services and basic needs due to the absence of an effective alternative.
What does that mean? A large number of people were forced to turn to individual solutions to reduce their losses, such as:
Use public transportation in its current form and spend more time traveling with less comfort.
– Using participatory transport, that is, sharing the car between several people to move to a destination, such as work.
Reduce car use costs, such as canceling insurance, neglecting maintenance, and abandoning parking consumption.
These procedures may be applicable and their cost is limited in some cases, but in others they will translate into higher costs and difficulties related to the change of place of residence to be closer to work or even abandon it due to the difficulty of accessing it.
What to do
This leads us to two questions: What are the economic and social impacts of changing the level of mobility of residents? Has the authority taken measures to limit these effects, or has it re-adopted a decision-making policy that gradually leads to the formation of a privileged class capable of moving easily and quickly, in exchange for a majority deprived of mobility or under the pressure of sky-high travel costs?
Of course, the solution cannot be technical, but political, and derives from the existence of a state capable of making decisions, protecting society and building an economy, that is, a civil state not governed by sectarian quotas, which will be established during a transition phase led by a government with legislative powers capable of making decisions. Fast track that guarantees people’s rights, including a fairer, more sustainable, advanced and integrated transport system, finding viable alternatives at the lowest cost and taking advantage of the expected decrease in the rate of car use to establish these alternatives as means of reliable transportation.
* Member of the Citizen Movement of a State
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