Search
Search

LEBANON

Attack on several public buses in northern Beirut, Hamiyeh raises concerns

Passengers were forced out of vehicles and drivers were insulted. The management company claims to have used the police to protect its fleet.

Attack on several public buses in northern Beirut, Hamiyeh raises concerns

State-owned buses vandalized in Dora last Wednesday. (Photo circulating on social media)

Wednesday was the first day of the (re)start of public transport buses on a single line in Beirut. These vehicles had been absent from the public transport landscape for years, dominated by privately owned vans. However, an incident was to mar this resumption, despite the population demanding it in a country in crisis: Angry individuals attacked many of these buses, vandalizing the vehicles and insulting passengers and drivers.

The incident angered Transport Minister Ali Hamiyeh.

“As if it were forbidden for citizens to live in a state, by decision of some thugs who have set themselves up as judges on the roads!” he wrote on his X account. He questioned “where are the law enforcement agencies responsible for protecting the right of citizens to choose the means of transport they want? How can we accept that people are forcibly removed from buses? Who is supposed to protect buses that are state property?”

The minister implicitly responded to the question of a supposed competition between these official buses and private vans, considering that "the transport tariff was studied so as not to harm anyone."

The caretaker Minister of the Interior and Municipalities Bassam Mawlawi sent a message to the general management of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) to ask it to investigate the acts of vandalism on buses belonging to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, between the regions of Dora and Karantina, during which passengers were attacked and drivers threatened.

In a statement released early in the evening, the Lebanese army said it had arrested an individual of Syrian nationality (A.H.) suspected of having "attacked the bus in Dora and assaulted one of its passengers." Another individual (A.R.) was arrested "for inciting people to attack buses," the army added in a statement on Saturday evening.

The return of state buses should benefit everyone'

The re-commissioning of these buses was launched on July 10 by Hamiyeh himself at the headquarters of the Office of Railways and Public Transport (OCFTC). After failing to manage the sector itself, the OCFTC launched a call for tenders from the private sector to operate these buses, 49 of which came from a French donation. This call for tenders was won by the Ahdab Commuting & Trading Company (ACTC), which had to ensure the management and maintenance of the vehicles, as well as the salaries of the workforce and the costs of accidents while giving 10 percent of its revenues to the state.

The contract concerns 93 buses, but only eight of them have so far been put into service on a single line covering the section from Nahr al-Mott to the Military Bath, Aouni Ahdab, president of the ACTC, confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour.

"Wednesday was the first day the buses were put into service, and the incidents started that day," he said, citing insults and bottles being thrown at the vehicles, particularly in the "hot spot" of Dora. "We called the police who responded and, indeed, on Thursday, no incidents were reported," he continued. A few skirmishes were noted on Friday, but were quickly repressed by the ISF as well, according to Ahdab.

Asked about the fare, he confirmed that it is LL 70,000 (about $0.78) for a trip, the same as that of private vans, according to him. "From this point of view, there is no unfair competition, quite the contrary, the arrival of state buses will have positive repercussions on the entire sector," he continued. The only difference: The new buses put into circulation are cleaner and safer, they run according to precise schedules, which allows the user to plan the journey time, unlike private vans.

In addition, the buses are equipped with surveillance cameras inside and at the front, "to which we will add cameras on the sides, in order to film any aggression that takes place outside the bus," said Ahdab.

Asked about the reason for such animosity, the company's president said that "he had anticipated such problems because the vacuum left in this area by the state for 30 years has been filled by groups that have taken control of certain regions," without wanting to name anyone. He also assured that the company intends to continue its expansion plan until it covers several lines by September or October while planning to maintain its collaboration with the police in order to ensure the safety of passengers and drivers.

We tried to contact the president of the public transport union, Bassam Tleiss, without success. The attacks on these buses have caused an outcry on social networks, with several Internet users castigating the inability of the state to protect its own buses.

This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.

Wednesday was the first day of the (re)start of public transport buses on a single line in Beirut. These vehicles had been absent from the public transport landscape for years, dominated by privately owned vans. However, an incident was to mar this resumption, despite the population demanding it in a country in crisis: Angry individuals attacked many of these buses, vandalizing the vehicles and...