‘Helmets? Who is in favour?’ Sitting with a group of young cyclists in an Achrafieh apartment, this is a moot point. Surely helmets are always a must? Well, as the phrase here very often goes – ‘this is Lebanon’. So, maybe questioning whether or not one should be taking such a safety precaution isn’t that unusual.

I’ve somehow found myself at a meeting of the members of a newly formed cycle courier service. That’s right, a business run on bikes, in Beirut. I came across them on Facebook, they were looking for cyclists to join up and that is how I met cyclist, courier and Briton, Matt Saunders. After he came to Beirut for a holiday, like so many others, he wanted to come back and seeing the high level of congestion, his returning mission was clear.

Dehgri Messengers (dehgri is Arabic for ‘straight ahead’ or ‘forward’) was launched last week and while they obviously want to provide a service that will ultimately make some money, the team also want to show how a fuel free service can operate quite amicably in a city known for its high congestion. ‘When I saw the crazy traffic, the seed was sewn.’  [Link]