A statistic issued by the Egyptian Metro Company said that metro passengers had reached 800 million in the fiscal year 2008/2009. According to the statistic, the figure is projected to hit one billion in the fiscal year 2011/2012, especially if the current daily rate of increase continues. Minister of Transportation Mohamed Mansour said the volume of passengers has increased by 300,000 this October compared to the same month last year. "Metro passengers are on the rise because the company is taking precautionary measures, such as sanitizing the metro vehicles and stations, to counter the spread of the flu," Mansour said. "Besides, the metro is known to be the safest and most regular means of transportation." The number of passengers has increased tenfold since the metro was established. Upon its inauguration in 1987, the metro carried 250,000 passengers daily. Today the figure has reached 2.2 million. Trains run every three to five minutes at peak hours, with 60,000 passengers riding the metro every each hour, said Mansour. The number of journeys has increased by 20 per cent to accommodate the growing numbers of passengers using the two metro lines. The number of trips on the Helwan-Marg line has been increased from 426 to 516 trips daily, with a train arriving every four minutes at peak times and every six minutes at normal hours of the day. Mansour also said the number of journeys serving the second line has been increased from 586 to 664 daily journeys, with trains pulling in every three minutes at rush hours. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
