Stylized image of the "ACTC PT" app for public transport service buses, (Credit: Shared on Instagram by the private company ACTC managing these buses)
BEIRUT — The private company Ahdab Commuting & Trading Company (ACTC), responsible for the management and maintenance of 93 state-owned buses, including 49 donated by France in May 2022, announced Friday the launch of its mobile app, named "ACTC PT," on macOS and Android.
Available in both English and Arabic, the app allows users to explore the 11 available lines, their stops, and fares. It can also suggest routes from point A to point B and track buses in real time along their respective routes.
This marks an important step forward for public transportation in Lebanon, which has seen new developments with the public-private partnership between the Office of Railways and Public Transport (OCFTC) and ACTC. This partnership made it possible to gradually launch the new bus lines beginning in July 2024.
Aouni Ahdab, president of ACTC, expressed his satisfaction and told L’Orient Today that the app "will continue to improve": While it is currently possible to see the bus moving along its route, arrival times and journey durations are not yet displayed.
According to him, these are among the main improvements to come, along with the ability to purchase tickets via the app.
Ahdab also told our newsroom that administrative steps have begun with Google so that routes will appear on Google Maps, the navigation service launched in 2005 by the American tech giant that enables real-time route tracking.
"It takes about four to six months to finalize the process, and we started it a month ago," continued the ACTC president, who hopes the partnership will materialize "before the end of 2025."
Buses coming from China and Qatar
Ahdab also stated that display signs at stops along the lines will be "gradually set up" and are mostly "virtual" for now. "This will take time due to bureaucracy, as approval is required from the governor and the Ministry of Interior to install a pole, a bus shelter, or markings on the ground," he said.
Originally promised for the end of January, the app only appeared in September. "We could have released the app much earlier, but live bus tracking wouldn’t have been possible — a feature that caused a lot of headaches due to connectivity issues," Ahdab explained.
Contacted for comment, OCFTC Director General Ziad Chaaya, who oversees operational management, explained that the app’s fares comply with those set by the Public Works Ministry.
He also told L’Orient Today that discussions are underway, notably with Qatar and China, to send additional buses, and said efforts are underway to expand routes.
The 11 lines stipulated in the contract between the OCFTC and ACTC have been operational since mid-April. In addition to lines within Beirut and those serving the capital and its suburbs, others link Beirut to Chtaura in the Bekaa Valley, Tripoli in the north, and Sour in the south.
In a country where private interests often outweigh public decisions and where private cars are overwhelmingly preferred, establishing quality public transport is a real challenge.
Absent from reconstruction projects after the civil war (1975-1990), public transportation has since been limited to an informal network of minivans and private buses.
Only 35 aging buses owned by the OCFTC — a state structure inherited from the French mandate — were still operating in 2019, mainly in East Beirut, until they were taken out of service after the double explosion at the port on Aug. 4, 2020.
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