1. A traffic crisis in Lebanon: entrepreneurs rise to the challenge 

Seasonal bottlenecks are common in the world. However, Lebanon suffers from a chronic traffic problem which dates to the end of the 15-year civil war, in the 1990s. In 1995, a transportation plan was envisaged for the greater Beirut area. If this plan had been implemented, the Beirut we know today would look very different. Instead, we just have ink on paper, unregulated public transport (bus lines and taxi service), no metro lines, and no rail service.

As a considerable number of Lebanese citizens commute to the capital on a daily basis, the Greater Beirut area witnesses a large congestion problem especially at its North, East and South entrances. These corridors experience average speeds as low as 10-30 km/h which in turn increase trip times by around 50-70 percent. This costs the Lebanese economy $2 Billion in losses on a yearly basis: 5 percent of the country’s GDP (The Daily Star, 2017). 

Lebanon has failed at implementing a sustainable transport system for the country and for the capital, Beirut. It is ranked 124th in terms of quality of roads among 138 countries, according to the 2016-17 Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum. Building more roads, demolishing buildings to make space for more cars, and adding more parking spaces will only make the problem worse. 

3. In this section, a more detailed explanation on why Beirut requires a public transport system will be explained, andwhat the broad objectives are that it may need to fulfill. 

In Lebanon, commuters mainly rely on private vehicles as a means for commuting to work and leisure purposesdue to the lack of credible mass public transport services. Such a transport system has a significant impact on theenvironment because of the continuous greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution. 

The World Energy Council (2007) estimated that transport systems account for 25% of the world energyconsumption. Additional social costs are associated with conventional transport systems due to lost factors associatedwith congestion, such as the value of time spent in commuting, cost of accidents, vehicles operation costs, and carbon emission costs.

Sustainable transport systems and mass systems in particular reduce economic, social and environmental impacts.

In general, sustainable transport systems help reduce travel time, lower vehicle operation costs, result in less carbon emissions, decrease the number of road accidents, and improve overall road safety. In addition, they are considered to be affordable by most commuters, can operate at a high frequency, and are proven operationally to be very efficient. Sustainable transport systems do not always require additional major infrastructure but they do provide a real multi-modal choice of transport for all network users.

Such systems at this moment in time are featured in all major cities which show signs of economic stability and growth. To name a few we can cite London, Paris, Istanbul, New York, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. Understanding the transport systems in these cities, how they grow and what constrains them are important factors, as Beirut will certainly be competing with other cities around the region and in particular cities around the Mediterranean and Gulf to attract new investments. These investments may be via the relocation of already established companies, or by attracting new companies including international and multi-national ones. 

Thus a sustainable transport system is needed in Lebanon and in Beirut in particular, to address transport issues 

and objectives that include: 

• The limited road network in Lebanon, particularly Beirut, as it suffers from severe congestion, and a reduction in these congestion levels are sought, whilst not necessarily building more expensive infrastructure, as the only solution facing us 

• Increasing cost for businesses due to traffic congestion, as (1) employees are losing productive time being stuck in traffic jams rather than being at work (journey reliability a key issue exposed here), (2) employee commuters are under a lot of stress due to long hours on the road, which results in lower productive levels 

• Restriction on changes in the existing road infrastructure that does not allow for further widening to increase capacity, causing road bottlenecks that will get worse with the further development and growth 

• The spreading of the existing traditional peak hours causing constant congestion levels for a larger period of the day. This trend is on the increase as a result of the reliance on private cars as the main means of transport 

• The expected increase of congestion levels when the Beirut Master Plan is put into place with the heavy reliance on private cars as the main means of transportation. The city will be expected to be in a complete gridlock during the peak hours, and if private cars is the main means of transport then congestion levels are expected to get even worse, bringing the city to a complete gridlock during peak hours that are continuously spreading throughout the day 10 Economic Impacts of Adopting a Sustainable Transport System in Beirut 

• The continuously rising costs associated with using private cars (related to petrol, vehicle maintenance, parking, insurance etc.) turning the affordability of owning and using a car into an issue 

• The continuous rise of pollution levels in Beirut will get worse when the BCD and NWD are fully developed. The existing car dominated transport system is one of the main factors contributing to this air pollution problem. Thus a modal shift to public transport is welcomed on environmental grounds in terms of CO2 car emissions.