On Tripoli’s New Bike Lane

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!