The price increase is aimed at addressing the financial woes of Cairo's underground service
Ahram Online , Saturday 25 Mar 2017
An increase in the price of Egypt's standard single-fare Metro ticket went into effect Friday, doubling the cost to EGP 2.
In comments to state-run news agency MENA, Minister of Transport Hisham Arafat announced the increase on Thursday but did not set a date for its implementation.
Earlier Thursday, a source at the ministry told Al-Ahram that special needs passengers and "other categories" will have their tickets priced at EGP 1 and EGP 1.5, respectively. It's unclear who will be exempted from the EGP 2 pricing.
The move follows a series of proposals by officials in recent years to increase ticket prices in order to fix the financial woes of Cairo's vital Metro underground service.
A lawsuit was filed Saturday in an administrative court to halt the price increase decision.
Over 3.5 million of Greater Cairo's 21 million inhabitants rely on the Metro for their daily travel, as it is considered the one of the cheapest means of transportation, according to estimates by the country's national tunnels authority.
On Wednesday, Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said the government is seeking to address the financial troubles of the Metro, which is struggling with a EGP 500 million debt.
Cairo’s underground system, launched in 1987, is one of the oldest in the Middle East and Africa.
Egyptian authorities decided to temporarily shut down downtown Cairo’s Sadat metro station citing “security concerns,” state news agency MENA reported late Thursday.
In statements to MENA, spokesman for the Egyptian Company for Metro Management and Operation Ahmed Abdel-Hady said the pivotal station would be reopened after security approval.
Sadat is one of two main hubs where commuters can switch between the city's two main lines.
The decision to close the station comes amid anonymous calls for protests in the square on Friday afternoon to oppose parliament's final approval on Thursday of the controversial Egyptian-Saudi Red Sea island deal, which places the islands of Tiran and Sanafir under Saudi ownership.
Egypt's Minister of Transportation Hesham Arafat said in an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper on Sunday that ticket prices for Cairo’s metro system are expected to see a gradual increase reaching up to EGP 4 by the last quarter of 2018.
Railway ticket prices will also see an increase, but not before the completion of ongoing development and renovation projects worth EGP 45 billion, according to Arafat.
Arafat said that the Egyptian National Railway has suffered the most from the latest increase in fuel prices after the government slashed fuel subsidies.
Arafat said that the hike in fuel prices is costing the railway an additional EGP 300 million annually. He clarified, however, that the expected increase in metro and railway ticket prices is not the result of the increased fuel costs, but rather the cost of maintenance work.
Egypt saw an increase in the price of standard single-fare metro tickets in March, doubling the price to EGP 2. According to the minister, the ticket price will range between EGP 2 and EGP 4 by the last quarter of 2018, depending on the trip distance.
The move came following a series of proposals in recent years to increase ticket prices in order to fix the financial woes of Cairo's vital underground service.
Arafat says that the latest increase in electricity prices will also impact railway services, adding that that the due date for paying the railway system’s debts has been extended from the end of 2018 to 2019.
"In addition to maintenance operations on the first metro line, which will cost EGP 24 billion, the third line [maintenance] will cost 80 EGP, as well as EGP 30 billion for the fourth line,” Arafat said, adding that these projects are set to be completed by 2019.
“All these projects show the state’s interest in improving metro and railway services and transportation in general.”
Last Month, Egypt’s cabinet announced a cut in energy subsidies, resulting in an increase in fuel prices.
The price of diesel fuel, primarily used in railway locomotives, increased from EGP 2.35 to EGP 3.65.
In 2014, Egypt started a programme to gradually lift domestic electricity subsidies.
Electricity subsidies were set to be eliminated entirely by the end of the 2018/19 fiscal year, starting in July. However, the phase-out plan has been extended to the 2021/22 fiscal year in order to ease the economic burden faced by Egyptians since the floatation of the pound in November, the minister said.
Chief of the Metro, Eng Ali al-Fadali, decided to install a colored ticket system for the 2018/19 school year, announced the official spokesperson of the Egyptian Company for Metro Management and Operation, Ahmed Abd al-Hadi Saturday.
Reduced rate tickets will be marked by different colors. The change will enable metro inspectors to easily identify ticket violations and misuse of ticket dicounts, Abd al-Hadi explained.
Regular tickets will be priced at two Egyptian pounds and marked with yellow. Tickets will be reduced to one Egyptian pound and fifty piasters for military and police personnel, journalists, children between four and 10 years old and veterans, will be green.
Tickets allocated to the elderly will be priced at one Egyptian pound and fifty piasters, marked by a rose color. Tickets put aside for people with special needs will be priced at 50 piasters and marked brown.
The spokesman for Egypt’s Ministry of Transport, Mohamed Ezz, said in a phone call on Thursday night to Mehwar TV's 90 Minutes programme that the decision to increase the fare for a ride on Cairo's underground metro comes at an appropriate time and is necessary in order to overcome the vital service's significant fiscal deficit.
Late on Thursday, Egypt’s Ministry of Transport raised metro fares from a flat rate of EGP 2 per ride to between EGP 3 and 7 based on a new zone system.
Rides up to eight stops will now cost EGP 3; rides from nine to 15 stops will be priced at EGP 5; and rides 16 stops and over will cost EGP 7.
The government last raised the metro fare from EGP 1 to EGP 2 in March 2017.
Meanwhile, Minister of Transport Hesham Arafat told DMC TV's night-time programme that the decision was necessary to finance and upgrade the infrastructure of the first metro line, which is now 30 years old and needs EGP 30 billion in renovations.
Arafat also said that the decision was being considered over the past year with special consideration to citizens' socio-economic concerns.
The fare increase does not apply to students, the elderly or people with special needs, the minister noted.
Minister of Transport Hesham Arafat has ordered the Egyptian Company for Metro Management and Operation (ECMMO) to increase preparations for Ramadan at all three Metro Lines.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Arafat said he issued directives to increase the operating hours of the Subway to run during Ramadan from 5:30 am until 2 am.
The minister also called to raise the readiness of ambulance points at various stations in order to better receive emergencies, promptly transferring any ill people to the nearest hospitals.
Chairman of the ECCMO Ali Fadaly stated that in total 1614 trips per day were arranged at the three metro lines in an effort to cope with the increase of passengers. Fadaly added that additional flights were being prepared daily at the first and second line in the event of an unexpected increase in passenger count.
A statement from the Transport Ministry said that groups were set up at stations to follow any obstacles that occur and work immediately to solve them. Ticket outlets have also been increased at high intensity stations to alleviate crowds.
Metro workers work on the site of a metro accident in Cairo, Egypt, on July 11, 2018. A metro train was derailed in Cairo on Wednesday without any injuries, according to Egypt's state-run news website Ahram Online. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
Egypt is hosting Africa’s favourite AFCON tournament between 21 June and 19 July
Ahram Online , Sunday 9 Jun 2019
Egypt is set to inaugurate Saturday a number of vital metro stations in Heliopolis within the scope of the fourth phase of development of the metro's third line, as the country prepares to host the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) starting this month.
In an official statement, Egypt’s transportation ministry said Haroun El-Rashid, El-Shams Club, and Alf Maskan underground stations will be open for passengers starting 15 June for experimental operations.
The official inauguration comes after operations began without passengers, to test the rails and motor-driven systems.
The ministry said the new stations will help transport a large number of enthusiastic fans attending AFCON games from Heliopolis, Alf Maskan, and Gesr El Suez to a number of stadiums hosting the games, including Cairo International Stadium and El-Salam and 30 June stadiums.
Egypt is hosting Africa’s favourite AFCON tournament between 21 June and 19 July.
Construction at the Heliopolis metro station, which is one of the biggest stations in the MENA region, will be concluded next October, with first and second parts of the third line’s phase four set to be completed in April 2020, according to the ministry.
The full Haroun El-Rashid - El-Shams Club extension covers a distance of 5.15 km and stops at four tunnel stations and one elevated station at El-Nozha.
Work on this phase of the project began in July 2015 and the final cost of construction was 257 million euros plus EGP 1.5 billion.
The completed third line is scheduled to launch in 2022 and will serve three million commuters daily.
The Cairo underground metro system, which currently carries more than four million passengers daily throughout the capital city and surrounding areas, is one of the city’s fastest means of transportation.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will raise the price of tickets on Cairo’s third metro line to as much as 10 Egyptian pounds (60 U.S. cents) starting on Saturday, the transport ministry said on Thursday, after it extended the line with the opening of three new stations.
The new rates come ahead of expected increases in fuel and electricity prices in the coming days which were proposed under a 2016 IMF-backed austerity program.
With the opening of three new stations, the third line, which begins at Ataba in downtown Cairo, extends eastwards beyond the suburb of Heliopolis. It will eventually help connect central Cairo to Egypt’s new administrative capital now under construction 45 km (28 miles) east of the city.
Ticket prices on the two other Cairo metro lines will remain unchanged, the ministry said.
Egypt last year raised metro ticket prices to a maximum of 7 Egyptian pounds per trip to the end of the line, from a base fare of 2 pounds, in a move that angered millions of commuters.
Egypt is pushing ahead with austerity measures tied to a $12 billion three-year IMF loan agreement signed in late 2016 that have included energy subsidy cuts and tax hikes aimed at reining in Egypt’s budget deficit and luring back investors who fled after its 2011 uprising.
This month’s fuel price increases will effectively end subsidies on most fuel products, a financial burden that has crippled state finances for decades.
Rides up to 9 stops on the line will now cost EGP 5, rides of 6-15 stops: EGP 7, and rides of 16 stops or more: EGP 10; the hike will not affect subscription prices for senior citizens, people with disabilities or students
Ahram Online , Friday 14 Jun 2019
Egypt's transport ministry has said that the fares on Cairo's third metro line will increase from EGP 3-7 to EGP 5-10 when the ministry opens three new stations on the line on Saturday.
The third metro line extends from Attaba Square in central Cairo’s Attaba district to Heliopolis in east Cairo.
The ministry is to inaugurate the new stations of Haroun El-Rashid, El-Shams Club, and Alf Maskan on Saturday, which it said was the fourth stage of the rollout of the new line, inaugurated in 2012.
Rides of up to nine stops on the third metro line will now cost EGP 5, rides of 6-15 stops will be priced at EGP 7, and rides of 16 stops or more will cost EGP 10.
The ministry said its new third line stations will feature air-conditioned and pollution-free trains and stations with elevators and escalators for the elderly and electronic display screens giving updates on train arrival times.
The increases won’t affect the prices of tickets on the other two metro lines in the system.
The fare hikes will also not affect the prices of fare subscriptions available to senior citizens, people with disabilities, and students.
The existing prices of EGP 33 for students for 25 stations, EGP 22 for 25 stations for people with disabilities, and EGP 135 for 35 stations for the elderly remain unchanged.
In May 2018, Egypt raised metro fares from a flat rate of EGP 2 per ride to EGP 3-7 per ride, based on a new zoning system, citing the need to raise funds for infrastructure development.
Cairo's metro currently carries about 3 million passengers daily on its three lines, with the new stations expected to add an additional 500,000 commuters daily, the ministry said.
The three new metro stations were built at a cost of EGP 6 billion ($357.7 million) from the country's general budget, it added.
The new stations will help transport fans attending games in this summer’s African Cup of Nations, which Egypt is hosting from 21 June - 19 July.
Matches are scheduled in a number of stadiums in the Greater Cairo area, including Cairo International Stadium, El-Salam and Air Defense Stadium.
Ministry denies increase in Cairo metro tickets prices - ht
tp://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/78858/Ministry-denies-increase-in-Cairo-metro-tickets-prices #EgyptToday
値上げしない、と大臣。
CAIRO – 20 December 2019: The Ministry of Transportation denied on Friday rumors about increases in Cairo metro tickets or subscription prices.
In May 2018, the Ministry of Transportation increased the price of metro tickets to become LE 3 ($ 0.16) for the first nine stops and an additional LE 2 (total LE 5) for seven more stations. The highest ticket price has been fixed at LE 7 if the commuter travels more than 16 stations.
Egypt had doubled the price of metro tickets in July 2017 from LE 1 to LE 2.
Former transportation Minister Hisham Arafat said the increase to LE 2 followed losses of LE 500 million, which put the network at risk.
The metro, which works every day from 5:15 a.m. until 12:30 a.m., was first launched in 1987 and has since become the most important means of transportation in Greater Cairo, helping commuters avoid traffic jams or negotiate fares with unmetered taxis.
Cairo metro fares to be increased starting Monday hEgyptian Transportation Minister Kamel Al-Wazir announced on Sunday that metro fares for all lines would increase on Monday.
“A ticket for a journey of between one and nine stops will cost EGP 5 instead of EGP 3, a ticket for 9 to 16 stops will cost EGP 7 instead of EGP 5, and a ticket for 16 to 40 stops will cost EGP 10 instead of EGP 7,” Al-Wazir told Ala Masoolati television show on Sada El-Balad channel.tt p://english.ahram.org.eg/News/376857.aspx @ahramonlineより
