In 2017, Jad Baaklini and Chadi Faraj, co-founders of the Bus Map Project launched #HerBus: a collection of experiences shared by women that have previously used the bus. .
#HerBus is meant to provide an insight into women’s everyday adventures, and sometimes struggles, with this method of transportation.
Have an experience you feel like sharing? Join the conversation and express your thoughts with us here.
Here’s what others had to say:
As a woman alone, I actually feel safer sometimes on a bus than on a service, because you always get the best seat away from all the men. Everyone is always watching out for you, and no one will dare look at you in a weird way or say anything insulting. So it’s always a good experience, if you can deal with the smells of sweat and perfume! – Florence
As for first impressions, the first thing I thought when I rode a bus was: “it’s not as bad as everybody thinks it is”. People were ‘normal-looking” and more or less “well-presented”. This first impression discredited the assumptions that so many people around me held- that buses are run down, stink, full of migrant workers and haunted by the spectre of the dangerous Syrian worker. The normality reassured me. I was certainly in a new place, outside my comfort zone, but judging by the looks of the people around me, I wasn’t really outside my ‘circle’.- Zahra
“Usually, we travel the city by car or by walking. We had some misconceptions before taking the bus; mainly about danger and uncertainty. However, now that we have taken it, our prejudices have somehow vanished. It’s really easy and affordable to use. It isn’t particularly dangerous for a woman to use. You always have to be careful — not because you’re in a bus, but because you’re in Lebanon.”- Sara and Sirene
Taking the bus without knowing where it was going became a new way to marvel at things they usually pass by without noticing. From this perspective, public transportation can be a way to awaken curiosity, raise new questions and imagine new answers