Cairo Metro doubles fare in bid to survive
Government had put off plans to increase the rates in the past over fear of public backlash
For almost a decade, Tharwat Hamdi, a government employee, has been riding the Cairo subway regularly to and from his workplace in the centre of the notoriously traffic-clogged city.
He stands along with dozens of other commuters on the station of Ezbet Al Nakhl on the Cairo outskirts, but the train does not always show up on time.
“The situation has been like this in recent months, especially in the morning and afternoon rush hours,” Hamdi, 53, says.
“A journey that used to take 25 minutes to downtown can take almost an hour due to the long intervals between trains and occasional breakdowns,” he fumes.
“The metro used to be the best and cleanest way of transport in Egypt.”
Warning
In recent months, several government officials have warned that the service will crumble unless the ticket price is increased.
On Friday, the subway fare doubled.
A journey between the cities of Giza and Qaliubia, that used to cost one Egyptian pound (Dh0.20) now costs two pounds.
The Ministry of Transport has repeatedly said that the state-subsidised service incurs a monthly loss of at least 20 million Egyptian pounds (around Dh4 million) as the country is struggling to rein in a runaway budget deficit.
In a public address last year, President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi said that the actual cost of a metro journey is about 10 Egyptian pounds, with the state subsidy covering the difference.
An estimated 3.5 million people daily use the Cairo subway, the Arab world’s oldest.
“The underground system is facing a severe financial crisis as a result of a shortage in the resources needed to cover its monthly needs,” spokesman for the service Ahmad Abdul Hadi, said last week.
Abdul Hadi said that the service is already saddled with debts of 400 million Egyptian pounds in unpaid water and power bills.
“The electricity and water companies have threatened to cut off their supplies to the service because we have been unable to pay their dues.”
The government has repeatedly shelved the plan to raise the metro fare, apparently for fear of public backlash.
The last time the metro ticket price was increased was in 2006.