Archive | Transportation

Uber and Careem No Longer Allowed to Pick Up Passengers from Beirut Airport

By Rami on April 4, 2019 in Beirut, Transportation, What the fuck!

Several news websites reported last week that a new decision (number 1/247) was issued by the Minister of Transport that aims to organize the operation of Taxi cabs at the airport, an urged taxi drivers to abide with it as of the first of April. No details were provided about that decision and the ministry website didn’t have any information, so it all sounded vague.

A few days later I started hearing about people arriving to Beirut Airport not being able to meet their designated drivers at the exit and I just made sure yesterday it was because of that decision.

A friend of mine arrived last night and tried to use Careem, but a few minutes later the driver called and told him he can no longer go beyond the army check point (around 700m away from the airport entrance), and that he should meet him there to pick him up. With too much distance to walk, my friend decided to simply cancel the ride and book one of the official airport taxi cars, except that they told him it will cost “around $50” to drive him to Dekwane which is ridiculously exorbitant, so he just said thanks and called one of his relatives to come take him instead.

So whatever that decision states, it essentially no longer allows taxi river to pick up their arriving passengers from the parking lot as before in order to force people to use the official airport taxi drivers who are infamous for charging very high amount for a few kilometers rides. Therefore, in case you are arriving to Beirut anytime soon, make sure to arrange for a friend or relative to pick you up if you don’t want to bear unnecessary charges.

Keep in mind that our so called tourism season should start in a few weeks from now, and this decision is basically the best way to kick it off!

Update (April 5th 2019):

Private taxi companies can pick up passengers from the airport only if they apply for a special permit from the syndicate of Lebanese taxi drivers for every ride they want to make.

The permit should include the passengers name along with their flight details in order not to be used more than once.

Update 2 (April 5th 2019):

Minister of Transportation Youssef Fenianos just reversed his decision, so taxi drivers can pick up incoming passengers from the parking lot just like before.

Jal El Dib Bridges Are Finally Open – Traffic is Even Worse Now

By Rami on March 20, 2019 in Traffic, Transportation

Following two years of construction work in Jal El Dib, the two 2L bridges were finally open for traffic last Saturday.

With the project completion, people were promised and actually expected the traffic to get better, except that it actually got worse, and I guess the outcome is simply logical. For cars coming from Jounieh towards Beirut, the road is effectively now narrower in Jal El Dib with an exist ramp follwed by an entrance ramp that eventually turbulate the traffic thanks to the way we drive around here. For example you always see drivers making a sharp right from the left lane to take the exit on the right and consequently slow down the traffic behind them.

People in charge of road management definitely deserve a trophy. And for those who make the Jounieh-Beirut trip everyday and now have an additional bottleneck on their way, antidepressant pills maybe.

photo via Lebanese Contractor Magazine

Middle East Airlines Seals The Deal for 4 Airbus A330-900neo Aircrafts

By Rami on December 12, 2018 in Transportation, Travel

As part of its wide body fleet renewal, Middle East Airlines has decided to purchase four new and two option Airbus A330-900neo powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines due to deliver in 2021. And just today, a contract was signed with Rolls-Royce to provide support for the Trent 7000 engines powering the new fleet.

The contract was signed during the Lebanon-UK Business and Investment Forum in London by MEA Chairman Mohamad El-Hout and Rolls-Royce Chairman Ian Davis in the presence of Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the UK Minister of State for International Development and Minister of State for the Middle East, Alistair Burt.

One of the things I love about Middle East Airlines is that they are always committed to keep their fleet up to date by retiring their old aircrafts once they accomplish 12-13 years of service, and today’s step goes inline with this strategy.

Should Uber Be Blamed For Rebecca Dykes Murder?

By Rami on December 21, 2017 in Transportation

I kept following the news and what people wrote on blogs and social media over the last few days about the murder of Rebecca Dykes on Friday night, and I found it quite astonishing how almost everybody was steering the conversation from Uber’s lack of responsibility to blaming the murder on our sexist culture.

I do acknowledge that we have a problem in our Lebanese society. Some women are exposed to domestic violence, others suffer from sexual harassment… but whether you like it or not this is unfortunately part of life and nothing is going to change overnight, just like you can’t expect gun violence to suddenly end in the US. Small progress however is being made thanks to the efforts of NGOs like Abaad and Kafa for example.

Still, the problem with the case of Rebecca Dykes doesn’t only lie in our culture which looks down on women, but also in the fact that Uber massively fucked up by allowing a driver with a criminal record to join their platform while people usually opt to use their service to feel in safer hands.

According to Uber’s webite, a clean Judicial Record is a minimum requirements for those who want to drive for them. Therefore, this incident could have been avoided if someone did their job right by rejecting this driver from getting on board… And to make things worse, they didn’t even issue a public statement to at least condemn the crime or apologize for the violation they did. On the other hand, when you visit their Facebook page, you ironically get greeted by an image with the tag line “Cheers to Safer Nightlife”. RIGHT!!!

Uber also had a similar problem in UK earlier this year by the way and were stripped of their licence in London for failure to report criminal offenses and lack of performing driver background checks. So it’s only logical to hold them accountable for doing the same here as well, in hope of at least getting a straight explanation about what went wrong on their side.

Update:

Uber reached out to me to give their side and below is what they wrote:

“All drivers that use the Uber app in Lebanon are fully licensed by the government and must have a clear judicial record.“ – Uber spokesperson

We can confirm that the driver arrested for this horrific attack had a clean background check and all the correct government permits.

We are in close contact with the authorities and we’re assisting their investigation in any way we can.

Taxi Booking Apps Now Cost Less Than Regular Taxis in Lebanon

By Rami on May 3, 2017 in Transportation

It’s been a while since I last used a ride hailing app around Beirut, and when I recently booked a Careem last Saturday it caught my attention that they currently charge 6,000L.L for rides within Beirut which is less than the standard fare you pay for other regular Taxis (10,000L.L / ride). I later checked UBER and noticed that they are charging a similar low fare as well.

I know the price difference doesn’t matter much with people who rarely use taxi cabs to commute, but those who do it frequently will definitely save some good money using mobile apps. My wife for example take cabs 3 to 4 times a week and I already convinced her to use Careem since it is my favorite booking app locally.

Talking about Careem, they recently announced integration with Google Maps, so you can see the estimated time of arrival as well as a fare estimate when you search for some location on Google Maps which can be quite useful. To try it out you can simply choosing the ride-hailing icon when searching for directions, then clicking “Open App” to launch Careem and book your ride.

I know the use of apps is to some associated with paying premium prices, but in the case of taxi booking apps it is not, so give it a try.

Photo via Flickr

Navigation

Archive | Transportation