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BEIRUT: Back in 2018, Fahdi stopped driving a service van and joined international taxi firm Uber. He believed it would earn him more money.
Three years later, the driver, who does not want his surname to be used, laughs bitterly when he recalls his optimism.
We have to ask for double, because otherwise we are making nothing, he says. Driving from Beiruts Hamra to Achrafieh, he explains that before the revolution of autumn 2019, this route used to cost maybe $5. Now, its maybe one and a half. Uber, he says, have not changed their prices to fully reflect the collapse of the Lebanese pound. Neither have they accounted for the loss of tourists, whose trips to and from the airport provided a regular income stream. His earning power has collapsed.
The situation is very bad, he says. There is no change coming.
Since 2019, the pound has lost over 90% of its value, leading to shortages of essentials, particularly fuel. Some estimates say the crisis has pushed 78% of the population into poverty. Taxi businesses told the Daily Star that they are facing collapse; they have to charge more to account for rocketing fuel prices, but now many people are unable to afford their prices due to growing unemployment and falling wages.
On Aug. 11, Lebanons Central Bank lifted fuel subsidies, meaning that importers have to pay a market price determined by the Energy Ministry, leading to a price hike. According to the Beirut-based Gherbal initiative, the price of gas in Lebanon has increased by 66%, and diesel has risen by 77% since the beginning of the year, due to a lack of supplies and hoarding.
In Tripoli, where 60% of the population lived under the poverty line even prior to the economic crisis, one taxi business said that it was encountering severe financial difficulties, due to the scarcity and loss of gasoline.
We are unable to meet peoples needs at the old prices, and we cant raise our prices to the cost of gasoline because we live in a poor city, a representative from the Al-Fayhaa taxi firm said.
Khaled Bashashi, whose cars once drove both locals and tourists across the country from Beirut, blames COVID, the uncontrollable exchange rate of USD to LL, and lately, the lack of gas.
The lack of gas ... after queuing for a long time at the gas station, we find ourselves obliged to ask for double prices, which some clients accept and others say no.
As long as the queues at the gas stations stay, said Bashashi, there will be no control of prices especially from individual taxi drivers.
The decline in taxis and services can have a devastating impact in a country where they are the main form of public transport. Habrur Abrouk says he is faced with an impossible choice. The 26 year old works in Beirut, but his family lives in Tripoli, where his mother a diabetic has been ill for some years.
"I used to go [to Tripoli] at least twice a week because my mother, she is sick. So I would go for the weekend, and normally for Tuesday or Wednesday night also ... but now it's so hard to find [gasoline] that I sold my car, so I have to use a service."
Lebanon's fuel crisis, however, is so serious that its getting harder to rely on public transport, with price fluctuations and gas shortages leading to uncertainty. "I know I could get up to Tripoli," he says, "But I don't know if I could always get back."
"Of course, I'm scared something might happen if I'm in Beirut," he explains. "But if I leave, and can't come back, how can I work? How can I earn money?"
The fuel crisis has led to an increase in security incidents. Over the past few weeks, general security has launched several raids against targets believed to be hiding fuel. On Aug. 25, internal security forces found almost 2 million liters of gasoline in a warehouse in Zahle. Lawyers for the alleged owner of the warehouse, Ibrahim Sakr, denied that their client had anything to do with it although Sakr never turned up to be questioned.
Attempts to find a solution to the crisis are stymied by political paralysis that has lasted over a year. Since August 2020, Lebanon has been managed by a caretaker government. The latest attempts to form a cabinet have stalled, as Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati and President Michel Aoun struggle to compromise over the allocation of Cabinet positions and ministerial portfolios.
Hezbollahs Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah earlier announced that a fuel-laden ship had left Iran, bound for Lebanon. Hes since said that more ships are on the way. In response, the United States announced it was seeking a way to supply fuel to Lebanon via discussions with Egypt, Jordan, and the World Bank.
But ultimately the lack of government, says Marwan Fayyad, head of the General Union of Drivers Syndicates, is why drivers are now waiting for two days to fill up gas, with the dollar at tat LL20,000.
Unable to lower their prices due to the shortage of fuel, and unable to raise them due to a collapse of public purchasing power, some businesses now fear they will be forced to close. At best, our service is still losing 37 40% of the fair price, says Raafat Itani, a driver in Tabarja. Transportation prices began to lose value after the revolution.
Negotiations are ongoing, both to solve the fuel crisis and alleviate the issues facing the transport sector. In March 2021 Bassan Tleis, head of the Federations and Unions of the Land Transport sector, announced a 30 percent increase in all transport rates to compensate drivers for loss of earnings; but the price rise is putting the service out of reach of the Lebanese. Back in May, the national taxi association asked for emergency government support to help keep prices down. On Aug. 30, caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni, met with the caretaker Public Works and Transportation Minister Michel Najjar as well as Bassam Tleis to discuss the situation. Wazni has since said he is preparing a document outlining necessary government support for the sector to present to Cabinet.
According to Fayyad, the caretaker prime minister agreed to support drivers in a call lon Aug. 28, after pressure from his union, one of four supporting drivers in Lebanon. We are working hard to help drivers, he told The Daily Star.
But this is a worn-out country isolated from the countries of the world due to the lack of a government."
The Daily Star contacted the Public Works and Transportation Ministry, but has yet to receive a response.
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