Hibr

Cycling towards a greener tomorrow

Cycling is more than just a hobby; it is an eco-friendly form of alternative transportation. However, in Beirut, cycling for transport has been unable to fully flourish.

There are several factors holding back effective cycling in Beirut. First and foremost: safety. Even with helmets and knee-pads, the roads are rife with risks to cyclists. "Even motorists, while having clearly dedicated and regulated roads, still feel unsafe when going about their daily commute," says Jade Said of Fast Forward, an organization aiming to promote public transportation. "Even pedestrians’ face shrinking sidewalks and insufficient crossings across dangerous pathways," she continues. No one's safety is guaranteed within the current system.

This brings us to the second setback: the lack of bicycle lanes. Bicycle lanes are marked sections of road dedicated to cyclists. "The real issue is with the overall urban planning approach to transport," says Said. "The motorways have been widened to their limit (at great cost, it is important to add), but traffic jams seem to be getting worse. Meanwhile, bus lines have been decreasing and spaces that might be used by cyclists have been annexed to the roads. As alternatives are less and less viable, people will rely more and more on cars, creating a vicious cycle."

But bike lanes would be futile if no one actually used them, and a certain attitude held by us and our government still stands in the way of adequate cycling. Most Lebanese prefer the prestige of cruising in a car to peddling a bike around or sharing a bus. Some still consider bicycles inferior; children's toys. "I rode a bike for a while, because public buses were never on time and I could not afford a car," says cyclist Aya Attar. "I would regularly get weird looks and be ridiculed." However, these ‘toys’ are getting pretty popular. "Cycling used to be an occasional activity, done once a month just for fun, but has recently become a regularly practiced hobby," says Jawad Sbeity of bike rental establishment Beirut By Bike. "People used to quit the bike at age 14, but now even people in their 40s are taking it up," he adds. This is definitely a move in the right direction.

"Only within a comprehensive, proactive approach by the authorities in cooperation with civil society can cycling become a truly safe and viable alternative," says Said. "We must re-envision our approach to transports by focusing on alternative [forms of] transport (be they bicycles or public buses) by gearing infrastructure and law enforcement towards them."
If these attempts are successful, "motorists will be relieved by the reduction in the number of cars congesting the motorway; the environment will be better off [due to] the reduction in emissions, but most importantly, cyclists themselves [could] zip through the city unimpeded by anyone," explains Said.

Let us wish Fast Forward, and all other bicycle advocates, much success in their initiative, for the road to a greener tomorrow is one with a bike lane.