Interview: BMP on Beirut/NTSC

And so it finally happened, I found someone else who enjoys (and maybe needs) the bus system as a way of commuting (easily, calmly, punctually) throughout the city and further on. I was never keen on driving, I learned it late and never enjoyed it and had to stop it due to hearing issues (the problem with the hearing meant I could not anticipate what other drivers were going to do – my own driving even if not enjoyed was top notch). So what did I do? I went back to taking busses as I always have.

Read our guest-post on Beirut/NTSC — thanks Tarek!

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Interview: BMP in Agenda Culturel

Merci, Agenda Culturel!

‘Le but c’est d’expérimenter, de pousser les photographes à s’intéresser à la question des bus tout en passant un bon moment .. Nous espérons vraiment que leurs remarques et observations sur les trajets, ce qu’ils auront remarqué en prenant le bus, nous aidera à développer notre cartographie et nos idées’.

And it’s happening tomorrow! To confirm your spot as a photographer in the Bus Map Photo Action, please don’t forget to register at http://frame.life/Events!

Interview: BMP in L’Orient-Le Jour

“Au croisement Cola, le long de la corniche, à toute heure du jour et de la nuit, les bus à Beyrouth sont partout, charriant des effluves de goudron et de… jasmin le long de leurs routes aléatoires. Pourtant, une partie de la population semble fermer les yeux sur leur existence. Avec leurs plaques vermeilles pour la plupart fièrement illégales, leurs colliers de gardénias accrochés au rétroviseur, qui oscillent au gré des pirouettes des conducteurs, et leur application folklorique du code de la route. Au-delà du joyeux capharnaüm de leur organisation pour le moins pittoresque, des Beyrouthins ont décidé d’ouvrir les yeux sur la richesse cachée des transports publics de la ville : c’est la devise du collectif « Bus Map Project ».”

A big « merci beaucoup » to L’Orient-Le Jour for this gorgeous article!

Interview: BMP in The Daily Star

The system is remarkably self-sustainable, even though it is almost entirely unregulated.

We loved sharing our bottom-up, incremental vision of infrastructural activism with The Daily Star!

What do you think? Are we “hiding behind our fingers” as one commenter claims?

Interview: BMP in Banapook

“Though it sounds trivial, one of the main reasons the middle-class has notoriously avoided using Lebanon’s bus system is simply a matter of labels and maps. Where does this one go? Where are the bus stops? [..] What’s admirable about Lebanon’s millennials is that they aren’t naive to expect too much from public bodies and tend to proactively find alternative solutions.”

Thanks for the feature, Bananapook! <3

It’s interesting to reflect on the pragmatism that motivates us at a time when there’s a real chance that the same can-do spirit might make public policy more welcoming of our generation. Our vote is with all of you hopeful people. Good luck to us all!

“3a Beirut” by Samer Dadanian

Title : 3a beirut – A film about the perception of a guy coming from the bekaa to beirut. He is waiting for the bus that will take him to his dream city, wondering if it will as expected…

Check out this clever portrait of unequal development and the importance of access to public transport in Lebanon.