Lack of public transport integration in Greater Cairo

In a region of 20 million people served by only three metro lines that are used by three million passengers a day, it is certain that these daily passengers are obliged to use other modes of transport to access different parts of Greater Cairo. Thus, we can say that Intermodality is surely practiced by Cairo inhabitants, but not necessarily planned by the public authorities. Indeed, the institutional landscape of urban mobility actors is known to be fragmented in Cairo with limited coordination between the institutions.

There are very few examples of good integration between different modes of transport in the Egyptian capital, and even fewer examples of institutional coordination or common tariff policy.

It is essential to highlight that the issue of accessibility of metro stations is important for the attractiveness of different modes of transport and their complementarity, but also for the comfort of users. Better management of intermodality would make it possible to address the accessibility of the city and the optimization of public funds dedicated to transportation.

Regarding forecourt design and multimodal integration of the metro stations in Cairo, the two examples examined during the technical cooperation workshop highlighted the predominance of the car and road infrastructure in the planning process. The pedestrian is neglected although walking is a major mode of transport in the Egyptian capital. In addition, the discussions are generally centered on a given scale, and there is less consideration for the articulation between the different urban scales (region, city, neighborhood…)

Work sessions: necessary integration of modes of transport by the pedestrian

Within the framework of the technical cooperation, the first work-session on intermodality issues and station design took place in Cairo, from 27th to 29th January 2019 at the Ministry of Transport. Two case studies were presented: the Adly Mansour station, the terminus of line 3 and New El-Marg station, the terminus of line 1.

Through a one-day field visit and two working days, the participants from the Ministry of Transports (MoT), the National Authority for Tunnels (NAT), the Egyptian Company for Metro (ECM), and the Greater Cairo Transport Regulatory Authority (GCTRA) examined the intermodality challenges in the two selected stations. Participants were supported by experts from various French companies and institutions:

• Dr. Zoi Christoforou, senior mobility expert and CODATU consultant within the technical assistance
• Mrs. Florence Girault, Project Manager in public transportation and intermodality at CEREMA
• Mrs. Cécile Clément Head of the group « Transport systems and mobility services » at CEREMA
• Mr. Jean Cornil, Head of the Urban, Territory, and Architecture Department at INGEROP
• Mr. Christophe Chevallier, Urban Design Director at AREP
• Mr. Ashraf Sehnouni, Project Manager – Urban Studies Centre – at AREP
• Mr. François Bruyant, Senior VP Business Development at TRANSDEV
• and the participation of SYSTRA through Mr. Mahmoud Ashmawy, Deputy Project Manager & Depot Manager Manager at SYSTRA Cairo

>> Read the workshop program here <<