A guide to alternative transport in Egypt

Our love of (and dependence on) cars comes at a cost: We all know traffic congestion here is bad — who among us hasn’t been stuck on the Ring Road or in a gridlock at a regular intersection? The research backs up the anecdotal evidence: Cairo ranks 17 on a traffic index of the 403 most congested cities in the world. But the hours we spend stuck in traffic also have a very real impact on our finances. A 2010 World Bank report (pdf) estimated that Cairo’s traffic problems cost Egypt up to USD 8 bn, or around 4% of GDP. The expectation is that this figure will rise to USD 18 bn by 2030. By way of comparison, New York City ranks 42 on the index of congested cities, but congestion-related waste only comes to about 0.07% of US GDP.

Egypt’s problem is particularly acute, and likely to get worse: With some 9.9 mn licensed vehicles in Egypt in 2017, according to CAPMAS, and a population of roughly 100 mn, we currently have a ratio of one car to every ten people. And these are numbers that keep growing.

The alternative options: Ride-hailing isn’t always the best answer. Your calculation when ordering a car through ride-hailing apps may be that you’re not adding to traffic volume since you’d otherwise take your own, but you’d rather not be the one facing Cairo’s erratic drivers. The bad news is that it’s been shown pretty conclusively that our favorite ride-hailing apps only make the problem worse by putting more cars on the streets, and drawing people away from public transport alternatives.

Mass transport is (obviously) a better solution: Relax, we’re not telling you to stand on a street corner and flag down a microbus with a hand signal indicating where you’re headed. You can opt for carpooling and mass transport options that are offered through mobile applications and online communities. Egypt’s very own SWVL pioneered the bus-hailing app game by essentially offering the best of the Uber and Careem models for personal transport, and applying it on a bigger scale to create a cleaner and more convenient version of public transport. In a bit of a feedback loop, Uber and Careem recently launched their own bus-hailing service. Both piloted the service in Egypt, which shows how applicable the model seems to be here. The services offered by all three companies are cost-effective for commuters, costing a fraction of the price of a personal car.

Nile Taxi: Skipping out on the traffic while taking a nice boat trip on the Nile — what’s not to love? Nile Taxi, yellow boats with multiple drop-off/pick-up points, will take you zooming down the river between central Cairo (around Nile City) and Maadi, allowing you to leapfrog over some of the most traffic-clogged parts of the Corniche. Prices range from EGP 15-45, and they’ve recently launched an app for easier booking.

Motorbiking — do it for the leather jackets and the community: For the more adventurous among you, why not grab your leather jackets and hop on a motorbike? As a bonus, motorbikes can be more than a method of transportation; riders have formed an entire global community. Groups across the world take biking very seriously, and often have particular criteria for membership, with like-minded people gravitating towards one another. In Egypt, groups such as Dukes, New Cairo Riders and Egypt Bikers Club wake up early on Friday mornings to take long rides and socialize together. Women riders may still face social disapproval, but as this Africa News report shows, they don’t intend to let that dissuade them from doing something they love (watch, runtime: 01:13).

Live and work on opposite ends of the city? Take the metro. We will acquiesce it’s not always a proverbial walk in the park, but the metro is a highly time-effective alternative to sitting in traffic until you’re old and gray. One Cairene tells Ahram Online the extension of Metro Line 3 has reduced her commute time to 26 mins, down from a commute as long as two hours.

The price has increased, but it’s still more than reasonable: Some people are not exactly thrilled about the hike in prices from last year to upgrade outdated infrastructure. “Early last year I paid EGP 12 for return trips for my two children and myself per day. Today I pay EGP 12 for my children and EGP 10 for myself. The cost has almost doubled,” civil servant Ali Abdel Azim said. But compared to much of the rest of the world, this is negligible: Monthly transport passes in cities in the US, Europe, and New Zealand cost north of USD 100, with London taking the cake at USD 198.

Queen obviously hadn’t been to Cairo before writing their song “I want to ride my bicycle”: Cairo’s roads may not be the ideal environment to navigate on a bicycle, but it is nevertheless becoming an increasingly popular mode of transportation here, and has earned government backing. One cycling enthusiast, Karim El Attar, even wrote his thesis on how to improve Egyptian road infrastructure to better accommodate bicycles.

Cycling is a financially and medically better alternative to regular transport: In the Netherlands, where the Dutch make 27% of their trips on bikes, scholars have quantified and monetized the benefits of alternative transportation to allow policymakers to make more economically sound decisions for the country’s transport system. This study found that the health benefits of cycling are more or less equal to 3% of the country’s GDP, and confirmed that investment in bicycle infrastructure yields high long-term returns. Another research find cited by Australian policymakers also showed that each 10 km of distance traveled via cycling instead of a car saves 1,500 kg of greenhouse emissions each year.

Cycling culture creates communities (excuse the alliteration): If you’re bored at home on a weekend, grab your bicycle and check out a list by Cairo West to see which of these cycling groups is nearest to you, and make some new friends while exercising. And don’t worry about your bike getting stolen: An initiative called Sekketak Khadra installed bicycle racks around the city last year in an attempt to increase “cycling culture.”

Women have it tougher, but it’s not all doom and gloom: Having women on two wheelers isn’t all that accepted by Egyptian society, women complain. Many consider it dangerous, and female cyclists in particular are targeted by passersby, but there are sources of support out there, too. Cairo Cycling Geckos (CCG) decided not only to support women riding bicycles, but to do it with the aim of helping underprivileged people and refugees in Cairo. They take bags of sandwiches on their bikes to sell to people on the street, giving the proceeds to those in need.

Convinced but not sure where to start? Here’s a guide on how to shop for a suitable bicycle, courtesy of Cairo360.

Your top 5 pieces of business and economic news in Egypt in September:

• The EGX30 sees an eight-day slide, falling 11% in the last three to almost erase 2019’s gains, before rising 3.2%, as we watch with our hearts in our mouths.
• Egypt is Africa’s number one investment destination for the third year in a row, says South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank’s 2020 investment report.
• Headline inflation falls to a six-and-a-half year low in August, surprising everyone.
• A government committee is working on a package of proposed incentives to stimulate IPO activity in the market.
• Stamp Tax Act amendments could see a rise in fees on electricity consumption, car licenses, bank transactions and more.

A personal car is a useful asset in many ways, but its cost goes beyond the ticket price at the dealership: To estimate the average cost, take a Toyota Corolla, which would cost an Egyptian right now around EGP 350k cash for the mid-range variety, and EGP 400k on installments. Deciding on which payment method to go with just depends on whether you have the amount ready up-front or have a steady income to deduct from, but many people who opt for payment in installments forget to factor in running costs.

Bear with us as we crunch the numbers: Most cars on the market have a gas tank capacity that ranges from 45-60 liters, and runs on the EGP 9-per-liter 92-octane. Let’s assume a midpoint, and take 52.5 liters as our average tank capacity. Assuming you normally need to refuel around once a week and factor in anomalies like long road trips, this means gas would cost you EGP 2,360 a month. Now, let’s add the things you don’t think about: Parking fees, minor repairs, washing your car, and fines, which altogether bring the total running cost to the EGP 3k ballpark. There are also the less visible costs of depreciation (at 10% of the car’s value a year) and insurance (assuming you take out a policy). The final price tag? A nicely rounded EGP 6k a month.

Now let’s take a look at the alternative scenario: If more people used public transportation, it would lead to fewer cars on the road, fewer carbon emissions, and less noise pollution. That’s to say nothing of our favorite pastime: People-watching. If you were to opt for the metro instead of a car, you could purchase a daily EGP 10 ticket to ride through 35 stations, meaning a month would add up to EGP 300, if we’re assuming you’re commuting that much every single day. Getting to and from a metro station might require a cab, which would cost maybe EGP 20 per day, meaning EGP 600 per month. These are rough estimates, but opting for public transport is at most 25% of the cost of running a car.

Want to calculate your own personal car costs? This nifty calculator lets you type in the numbers and see just how much your car is costing you.

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Being without a car can help your health and your wallet: Biking, walking, or using public transport calm you down because you’re either exercising or engaged in a restful activity, akin to reading, says Eve Andrews, who opted for the no-car life after years of driving. Driving a car frequently is related to anxiety and an overall lower quality of life, she says. With the money she saved from running a car, she managed to rent an apartment in a nicer part of the city, found cost-effective alternatives to traveling when necessary (such as renting a car for long trips and sharing the cost with friends), and also improved her physical health by walking and cycling more often.

Cities all over the world are making an effort to ditch cars, with an entire day dedicated to no cars in an attempt to show the benefits of this approach. A selection of photos from the Guardian shows the event, which aims to promote the improvement of public transport infrastructure, and make the case for cycling and walking, as well as developing communities where jobs and shopping are both within easy reach. Oslo’s city center is now an entirely no-car zone, and Madrid aims to reach that milestone next year. The shift has been a boon for city-center businesses, which have benefited from pedestrians, while sales of scooters, motorbikes, and bicycles have also shot up. With car pollution contributing around 20% to the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, and a study finding that some 10k people die prematurely in Europe each year due to pollution from diesel cars alone, the health benefits alone are an additional reason to keep the initiative going.

No, this isn’t only a European thing: Ethiopia had its sixth annual no-car day in May 2019, and this series of photos shows people in Addis Ababa enjoying the space in the city’s capital to exercise, skate, and even dance. Morocco regularly organizes no-car days in Casablanca and Mohammedia. And even business-focused Dubai went the same route for a day in February, with over 10k people taking part in the initiative.

Public transport that stays the course: Frequent, punctual, clean and safe. These are some of the qualities most prized by the users of the world’s most highly rated public transport systems, which are primarily located in Europe and Asia. Each system is, of course, well adapted to the needs of its own particular city, but there are plenty of models Egypt can look at to adapt our own infrastructure. Zurich has a diverse system made up of boats, trams, cable cars and trains, while Tokyo is renowned for the breathtaking scope and punctuality of its service: Some 80% of jobs and the city’s population are within one kilometer of a metro or suburban rail station, and it made headlines in 2018 when an official had to apologize for a train actually leaving 25 seconds early. Accessibility, safety, the ability to provide real-time information to commuters, and high-tech planning and ticketing options are also real assets that encourage the use of public transport services.

We’re still a long way off, but these US cities show a vision of the future that’s pretty appealing. California’s capital, Sacramento, has recently invested USD 44 mn in its infrastructure, including chargers and electric transit options to support two electric vehicle car-sharing services, zero-emission electric bus lines, an on-demand electric shuttle, and ten charging depots. Florida is currently pushing fixed-route autonomous shuttle services, which have already proven popular in Detroit and Las Vegas. And Denver has a plan that by 2040, all of its 78 neighborhoods will have an environmentally friendly park within ten minutes’ walking distance, and that 75% of its residents will live within a quarter of a mile of a reliable transit service.

What does it mean for a city to be “walkable”? Walkability is simply a measure of how easy and time-consuming it is to access amenities or attractions by foot, whether in a designated region or in a larger urban context. The Culture Trip ranked Italy’s Florence as the king of walkable cities, crediting it with gorgeous views and plenty of bars and restaurants which offer “respite for tired feet.” New York City, with its part-pedestrianized Times Square, came in second. Marrakech, meanwhile, proudly claimed the third spot, thanks to the “labyrinthine alleyways” of its souks. Walking cities, according to science and common sense, give a boost to their residents’ mental and physical well-being, as well as contributing to creativity and civic engagement, says this blog post by Christie’s International Real Estate.

Where does Cairo stand (or walk)? The capital is arguably on the car-dependent end of a hypothetical walkability scale, but it isn’t completely non-walkable. Bloggers at This Big City designed a walkability map of Greater Cairo, and although it is not yet fully functional, the available data shows that downtown Cairo and the often-dreaded Gameat El Dowal are each a “Walker’s Paradise.” Zamalek, Maadi, and Dokki are also considered fairly walkable. Satellite cities, including Downtown 6 October, Sheikh Zayed, and the Fifth Settlement, as well as Nasr City, remain highly car-reliant, however.

How social mobility and urban expansion created our current situation: In its recent history, Egypt has seen many waves of “upward mobility,” largely sparked by the emergence of modern Cairo. The modern period was marked by a large influx of foreign expats who were privileged by “capitulation” treaties signed by Ottoman emperors during the 1800s. By the early 1900s, the number of foreign residents peaked at a striking 16% of the population, more or less coinciding with Zamalek and Garden City developing along the Nile. A general trend then took hold, whereby upper-income groups tended to leave their homes for new developments, with middle-income groups following to the suburbs, leaving older areas to those who were poorer. What began with colonial influence was later exacerbated by the rise of satellite desert cities and the steady flow of individuals from rural areas searching for jobs and better conditions in the capital.

Weird and wonderful ways of getting around: We don’t want to fall prey to stereotypes. We’ve all experienced the frustration of speaking with well-meaning visitors who labor under the mistaken idea that Egyptians commute to work on camels to get to their homes and schools inside the Pyramids. At the same time, the world’s most unique transport innovations are worth appreciating in a time of increasing global homogeneity. Among our favorites is the funicular, popular in cities with steep inclines, including Katoomba in Australia’s Blue Mountains, and Wellington in New Zealand. Picturesque gondolas are known for being the best way to see Venice. The hydrofoil allows you to skim across the water, moving between Greek islands. Cambodia’s bamboo train was largely shut down by the Khmer Rouge, but it was widely used for much of the 20th Century, and reaches speeds of up to 55 km per hour. And Germany’s suspension railway, first built in 1901, runs on an elevated monorail, and is used by some 20 mn people every year.