In Lebanon, Migrant workers and foreigners form a huge portion of riders in the public transport system. Having said that, their right to mobility is restricted due to their lack of the Arabic Language upon which the system is based. As Riders’ Rights, we have teamed up with the Migrant Community Center (MCC) to make our bus maps more inclusive. MCC’s mission is to make meaningful improvements in the quality of life of migrant workers in Lebanon and their capacity to self-advocate to advance their socio-economic rights, and to contribute to a strong and powerful migrant civil society.
Therefore, we have organized various focus groups that helped us gain more understanding of their needs, concerns and suggestions as well as picked the top four languages used among them to translate our map ( French, Amharic (Ethiopia),…).
Visualization and graphics were also taken into account to highlight landmarks they consider important and to make it easier for them to read and navigate the routes in a country that is unfamiliar to them.
This project is still in progress. Stay tuned for the final outcome!