Saturday, Mar 25, 2017

Cairo: 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 among trains and occasional breakdowns,” he fumes. “The metro used to be the best and cleanest way of transport in Egypt.”

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 pound (Dh0.2) 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 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 LE10, with the state subsidy covering the difference.

An estimated 3.5 million people daily uses the Cairo subway, the Arab world’s oldest.

In recent months, several government officials have warned that the service will crumble unless the ticket price is increased.

“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.

“Losses are continuing due to the difference between the present ticket price and the real cost,” he added in a press statement.

Abdul Hadi said that the service is already saddled with debts of LE400 million 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.

In November last year, Egypt free-floated its local pound and cut the fuel subsidy as part of tough measures aimed at healing its ailing economy.

The moves have sent prices of commodities and services skyrocketing amid public discontent.

“The easiest thing for the government to do is to put its hand into the pocket of the citizen in order to increase its revenues,” Othman Fayed, a shop attendant, says.

“Life has become a hell after the price of everything has gone crazy due to the pound flotation. Instead of increasing the metro ticket price, they have to look for other resources away from the citizen’s pocket that has become full of holes!” the 49-year-old man adds sarcastically.

Other commuters disagree.

“One pound is too little for riding the three lines of the metro [in a single journey],” a schoolteacher, called Kawthar, says.

“Today, it costs at least two pounds for a short ride by the tuk-tuk,” she adds, referring to the motorised rickshaw, a common mode of transport in Egypt’s working-class areas and villages.

In an attempt to augment its revenues, the state-owned operator of the Cairo subway has recently unveiled contracts worth LE175 million with advertising agencies in return for using trains and stations for commercials.

Private businesses have also been encouraged to lease spaces on the stations.

The subway officials have said that expected earnings from the deals are not enough to make up for losses and finance a renovation process of the service.

Over the past year, some 20 sleek air-conditioned trains have been launched into service, replacing ageing coaches.

Authorities have also installed X-ray machines at the entrances to metro stations in order to boost security.

The system has been the target of several bomb attacks since the army’s mid-2013 overthrow of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi following enormous protests against his rule.

The first line of the Cairo subway went operational in mid-1980s. Two other lines were built later. The service is planned to be extended to other parts of the sprawling Egyptian capital.

“We should help the government to preserve this service that saves time,” Kawthar, the schoolteacher, says. “Doubling the ticket price may help.”

By Ramadan Al Sherbini Correspondent

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