right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

O.C.F.T.C (Office des Chemins de Fer et des Transports en Commun, French for '' Railway and Public Transportation Authority'') is the Lebanese government authority which operates public transportation in Lebanon. The OCFTC currently operates 12 bus lines in and around the capital city of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

using a fleet of blue and white colored buses. There are plans to restore intercity bus service; however, this market is already well served by numerous private bus companies which depart from the Cola area and Charles Helou Station in Beirut to various destinations throughout Lebanon and Syria. The OCFTC's main competitor is the privately owned and operated

Lebanese Commuting Company Lebanese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Lebanese Republic * Lebanese people, people from Lebanon or of Lebanese descent * Lebanese Arabic, the colloquial form of Arabic spoken in Lebanon * Lebanese culture * Lebanese cuisine ...

(LCC) which operates a fleet of red and white colored buses, mostly minibuses. Its service and efficiency is regarded to be better than the OCFTC and thus it charges slightly higher fares. Due to many problems that have been plaguing the OCFTC, there have been calls to transform it into a regulatory agency with the bus system becoming completely privatized, perhaps transferred entirely to the Lebanese Commuting Company (LCC). These plans may never materialize however. The OCFTC also owns all of the railway infrastructure in the country, however, as the railway system was severely damaged during

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

, none of the railway system is currently in operation. There are plans to revive Lebanon's railway system. The French railways,

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

, have been hired to analyze the railway infrastructure in the country to see what steps should be taken to revive the system. A project to restore the system may still be several years off as it would be extremely costly.{{Citation needed, date=March 2007

External links

OCFTC Bus Routes and Schedules
Bus companies of Lebanon Transport in Lebanon