A neat mountain road in Iran …
… and a bridge on the entrance of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon; notice the modern separators in the middle of the street:
Posts tagged Transportation
A Bike Superhighway in Lebanon?
While the Lebanese are busy following their respective political colors, people in London opened 2 new “cycle superhighways” in the city. The Barclays Cycle Superhighways is planned to be completed in 2015, while some routes are expected to be finished by summer 2011 and October 2012.
Here is the map of the bike superhighways, compared to the map of Lebanon using the same scale:
The Barclays Cycle Superhighways map, superimposed on the map of Lebanon
Highlighted on the map: Byblos on the North, Baalbek on the East, Jiyeh on the South, and Beirut on the West
Read the rest of this entry »
A new bike trail in Beirut
Beirut inaugurated its first bike trail a few weeks ago.
Although it is a small loop inside the city, and that it is only opened for a few hours on Sundays, it is nevertheless a small step forward towards a green and sustainable transport mentality in the ‘my car is bigger than yours’ society, and a victory for the bikers in Lebanon.
According to The Daily Star, this bike lane covers Tripoli Street of the Beirut Souks and Patriarch Howayek Street.
Here is an illustrative map for those who have no clue where those streets are
Dubai Metro… a flop?
After 5 months of service, did the Dh28 billion (75% above the original estimates), one of the most advanced, longest automated driverless WiFi-enabled train system live up to the initial hype and fanfare?
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The world’s newest & most advanced metro aimed to join the league of megacities around the world, to ease the traffic problem, and to reduce road congestion and distances between key locations… Beyond its posh & mesmerizing design, did it meet these goals?
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On the positive side, the metro fare is affordable, and the surrounding of the metro stations (mainly malls) will flourish…
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On the other hand, the researchers and experts from around the world who have been working on the project since 1990, missed a key issue: that last mile connecting people from and to the stations:
Long walks in the desert heat is not the greatest ideas,
the 300 taxis assigned to support Dubai Metro network charge the regular fare (wasn’t the metro supposed to reduce the number of cars?),
and busses do not allow passengers that do not have a pre-paid card.
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Ssssekht!
It is both sad and frustrating to read such an article:
It grows food in sand, powers homes and the sun and this year launches the world’s finest city-wide electric car system …
… Drivers will plug in their cars to recharge for several hours at home, work or at designated free car parks throughout the country … The electricity for the cars will come from solar technology being developed in the desert …
The praising article goes on:
… “we are smart because we know that we have to be to survive” … revolutionised the watering of agricultural crops more than 40 years ago … leading the way in a new technology that harnesses solar power for clean electricity production … One company was snapped up by the German industrial giant Siemens last year for more than $400 million … is developing a system to generate electricity from the pressure of traffic driving along roads…
But what about Lebanon? Here is where we stand: Read the rest of this entry »
Affordable Apartments for Rent in Beirut
In really near suburbs you can find pretty cheap but still big enough apartments.
Ain el Remmaneh for example is 5 or 10 minutes away from Ashrafieh, depending on where in this area you live (if there is a lot of traffic, it could take you 30 or 40 minutes depending on where you want go in Ashrafieh cause it is a big area).Other than Ain el Remaneh, you have Badaro (slightly more expensive), Furn el Chebbak, Sin el Fil and Ras el Nabeh/Sodeco.
Those are the main areas surrounding Ashrafieh that are not considered to be inside the city but very very close suburbs with flats that are quite cheap
(pour te donner un petit exemple, tu peux facilement trouver un bon T1 bis ou T2 meublés à 300 euros)
