Transit Equity Day: RR x TRU

I want to use this last post of a gorgeous bus stop from my time in California as an opportunity to ask for your financial support of @RidersRightsLB. Next Saturday is #TransitEquityDay, and, to coincide with this occasion, the #Seattle Transit Riders Union has launched a crowdfunding campaign to support a mutual aid initiative that RR is coordinating in #Lebanon. I’ve put a link where you’d expect to find it on my profile. Please consider supporting mobility justice in Lebanon during an extremely difficult economic and political time there. The parallels we are drawing between our two very different contexts are deliberate. Rosa Parks and … Continue reading “Transit Equity Day: RR x TRU”

#BusLineHeroes = #GuardiansOfMobility

This is not a message of endorsement I expected we’d receive one year ago, let alone five or ten years ago, when I first started paying attention to public transport in Lebanon: This is the Secretary General of the UITP, the oldest and biggest transit advocacy group in the world. It’s not the sort of organization that is naturally inclined to be supporting of informal transit, but we were there when that door started opening two years ago. Has this crisis afforded new opportunities for relating to each other, after all? Let’s lead the transition.

Reflections on Bus Map Project in the October Revolution

Bus Map Project emerged just before the last wave of protests in 2015, and part of its DNA was a desire to see “less talk, more action.” We were tired of hearing the question: “where is the state?” At first, this alienated some of our potential allies. What we wanted was to see more people stepping into their rightful place as “the people.” At the end of the day, we are “the state,” because: 1) people are its source of legitimacy, 2) and people are what make it all function, through everyday “doing.” It’s so heartening to see the current … Continue reading “Reflections on Bus Map Project in the October Revolution”

Bus Map Project: “Shared Transport is a Shared Responsibility”

2018 has been very busy for Bus Map Project, a grassroots pro-transit initiative I co-founded in 2015, and it’s already almost May! It’s time for a catch-up post; we have a lot to tell you… On January 6th, we held our very first #BusCommunity event in Hamra and had a lively discussion with friends and peers from YallaBus, H2 Eco Design and others from our network of collaborators and supporters. Later that month, we did a mini-collective map action in Tripoli, to familiarize ourselves with the city and plan for more mapping in North Lebanon. This was followed by our … Continue reading “Bus Map Project: “Shared Transport is a Shared Responsibility””