Tag Archives | bike lane

Beirut’s New Bike Lane is Just Impractical

By Rami on May 1, 2017 in Beirut, Traffic

It has been less than 10 days since the unveiling of Beirut’s first bike lane and it is already proving to be impractical, not only because drivers are unsurprisingly ignoring it, but also for the simple fact that it was set up on the left side of the road whereas bikers are obliged by traffic laws to ride on the right side of the road and on the bike lane where it exists. The result is an experience as the one you can see in the below video.

The problem lies in the fact that the lane seems to have been set up in a way not to disturb the valet parking guys who occupy the right lane day and night. You just can’t expect something to function correctly when you start it wrong… In my opinion, the municipality and Beirut by Bike are using this bike lane thing as a stunt to appear like they’re doing something for the city while they know beforehand that no one will make use of it, and best of all, it costs nothing to draw lines on the road!

We can barely fit cars in our street, let alone creating bike lanes, so in order to make that happen the municipality must first work on rehabilitating the roads, and in if it’s impossible then I think they better focus on improving something else and take proper credit for it.

video via Mohamad Cheblak

Beirut Just Got Its First Bike Lane

By Rami on April 23, 2017 in Beirut, Traffic

In a public post on Facebook, Jawad Sbeity the owner of Beirut by Bike shared some photos from Waygand street showing the setup of the first bike lane in Beirut.

It wasn’t clear where exactly does the lane start and where does it end, nor the streets that will cover or when will it be finalized, nevertheless it’s definitely some good to those who take their bikes around the downtown.

However, the only and most important concern remains whether driver will acknowledge this bike lane or not. Waygand street gets quite busy during the day with some shops there have valet parking service and most of the time you find cars parked on the right lane which narrows the road… so whether you like it or not drivers will have no option but to drive over that bike lane especially during rush hour. Still, neither Sbeity nor the municipality can be blamed for that, but rather the lack of urban planning that should have provisioned wider streets around Beirut.

Anyway, let’s see how long will this lane live on!

On Tripoli’s New Bike Lane

By Rami on May 20, 2016 in Sports, Tripoli

I really hate to be a party pooper, but as I much as I like the city of Tripoli and love spending time there, I didn’t feel much excited about that new bike near the International Fair.

To start with, I personally love biking and I imagine a ride across Tripoli would be so fun to do since it’s a relatively small city with many interesting places to see, without forgetting the tasty stuff you’ll find whether from food and drink carts or small shops everywhere.

That being said, the initiative of introducing a bike lane sounds like a pretty good move and I hope it gets implemented in other areas around the city as well. But before we all get hyped can we question whether people will actually respect it or not?

Lebanese drivers barely acknowledge the existence of white lines on the road, and I don’t think an additional yellow one will make any difference
Whether designated to be place for cars to park or not, the right side of any street here is taken for granted as a parking space. It’s more like an unspoken driving rule and chances are cars will soon be parked all over that yellow line.
Moreover, even if we manage to clear that space exclusively for bikers, we will never be able to convince taxi drivers to stop using it to pick up passengers.

So yes basically unless we start respect the basic driving rules in Lebanon I see the new line totally useless. Until then, ride safely!

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Tag Archives | bike lane