Towards reliable public bus services in Greater Cairo

Abstract

The complicated transport and traffic problems in Greater Cairo have negative influences on both people life and health; moreover, these problems lead to significant waste in working hours and increase air pollution levels. Private-car-ownership in Greater Cairo shows that only about 20% of the total populations are private-car-owners, while the majority have no private cars and are forced to use all available different modes of public transport, which are deteriorated and unreliable in most cases, in their daily trips. Classified traffic counts on Greater Cairo roads, streets and junctions showed that private cars represent over 80% of traffic composition with average occupancy of about 1.3. The combined effect of the higher traffic of private cars, their illegal on-street parking and the insufficient road and intersection capacities, are the main reasons of road traffic congestions. The evolution of the transport in Greater Cairo over the past three decades shows an increase in the use of passenger cars (including taxis), which is currently absorbing over one fourth (25%) of the motorized trip market. Some forms of public transport, in particular public bus services and light rail, have suffered a corresponding decline in patronage. Shared taxis, on the other hand, have aggressively increased their market share 1 . Moreover, the currently applied fare policies of the individual public transport modes do not facilitate cooperation among the various operators 2 . This research aims to study the provision of distinctive, reliable and comfortable public transport, with unsubsidized and trip dependable fare, to encourage and attract private car owners, thereby reducing traffic congestions. In the same time no changes will be introduced to regular public services fare, as their users are lowincome and non-motorists. To achieve research objectives, E-mail questionnaire using a welldesigned questionnaire form are performed on a randomly selected sample of about 460 private car owners from different places, ages, genders, education levels, and life styles. The purpose was to poll their opinion about key points such as; using the proposed distinctive bus services, the suitable travel fare per kilometer and if they have other suggestions. The analysis showed that private car owners strongly encouraged the idea, and they see that 0.5 LE/km is a fair fare for its use.