The House of Representative's Transportation Committee has not received any final decisions so far from the Ministry of Transportation regarding increasing Cairo Metro ticket prices, parliamentary sources revealed. In an exclusive statement to Daily News Egypt, the sources said that the committee is tending towards a price increase, but members have disagreed about the extent of the increase. There are worries, for instance, of the general public's reaction to an increase that is considered sizeable compared to the current ticket price. The sources explained that some representatives in the committee have suggested increasing the ticket price to EGP 3 instead of the current EGP 1. This ticket would be valid throughout the entire day in order to lessen any public backlash. However, the Egyptian Co. for Metro Management & Operation rejected the idea in a meeting with the committee members. The Egyptian Co. for Metro Management & Operation has not yet decided on the price increase for the metro ticket—whether for normal carriages or air conditioned ones. The company has already put in place measures to increase the ticket prices; it intends to increase the air conditioned metro ticket to EGP 5. The company began to install lines in the two carriages behind the front carriage. This is part of its attempt to increase prices and divide the carriages according to ticket price. Certain ticket windows will be assigned for the different tickets Parliamentary sources expect that the Transportation Committee will hold meetings with the Ministry of Transport and the company, after the Eid Al-Adha holidays, in order to study the ticket price increase proposals. The committee will continue its work throughout the upcoming holiday period, rather than taking its first legislative term holiday. The National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) planning director Tarek Abou El-Wafa told Daily News Egypt previously that there is more than one scenario for applying the increase on ticket prices, such as dividing the ticket prices according to the number of stations or unifying its price with an increase of EGP 0.5 every five years. Abou El-Wafa explained that, in all cases, the price of the ticket would not exceed EGP 3 for all metro stations, and the increase will not be applied for students, the elderly, and disabled people.
