1. Chadi Faraj, Project Co-Founder
Bus Map Project
Chadi Faraj, Project Co-Founder
SwitchMed est financé par
L’Union Européenne

2. About ‘Bus Map Project’
Launched as FB page in Summer of 2015.
Aimed at filling a gap in public knowledge of public transport in Lebanon.
Building up a dataset of formal and informal transit routes through collective fieldwork (GPS).
Seeking a direct impact of the public transport sector by building bridges between riders, service providers and policymakers.

3. Starting point (before support)
Early stage of the project began in 2008, relaunched in
July to December 2015: raising awareness about the existence of public transport in Lebanon.
September 2015: Participation in conference about Local Governance of Transport Sector
October 2015: Collaboration with graphic design students to produce single-route maps.
November 2015: Participation in conference on Citizen Design.

4. Boosting strategic vision and clarifying mission.
Achievements to date
Boosting strategic vision and clarifying mission.
Team building (Invisible Sphere).
Refining the concept and workflow of online platform (BusMap.me) to be developed with SwitchMed support.
Vision: improving Public Transport in Lebanon requires the cooperation of all players (we are against monopoly)
Mission: helping people become more familiar with the logic and culture of Public Transport in order to build a Community of Rider to push for rights.

5. BusMap.me will be a hub for local and regional transit information.
Expected results
BusMap.me will be a hub for local and regional transit information.
The platform will create the community of eco-minded people who are interested in improving public transport from the bottom- up (e.g. hackathons, photo-essays, etc.)
Linking the data to direct advocacy through ‘Riders’ Rights’ NGO.
How? 1) we are making links with similar initiatives in the MENA region; 2) the platform will be open to user-submitted data and tools; 3) we want to base our advocacy on solid information which will sustain our work through up-to-date information

6. Suggestions
Help initiatives reach local communities and/or authorities to improve their grassroots relations.
Bridge between grassroots initiatives and social entrepreneurial thinking.
Work on ‘invisible sphere’ earlier in the support program.
Ici, nous vous demandons de suggérer ou recommander des choses qui pourraient être faites pour améliorer le soutien apporté par SwitchMed// Here we ask you to suggest or recommend things that could be done to improve the support provided by SwitchMed

7. Thank you!
SWITCH-Med Programme is funded by the
European Union