CAIRO - After the January 25 revolt ended, Egypt and its people were delighted, as they felt that their country had become theirs once more. Meanwhile, it's wonderful to see young Egyptians in the streets, armed with brooms and shovels, cleaning up not only in Cairo but the other governorates too. But some young people are thinking of serving Egypt in another way. “We want to improve the Greater Cairo Underground service,” said Magdi Rashidi, a second-year law student, who took part in the revolt. “I've created a Facebook page entitled ‘The Youth of January 25 on the Metro', to invite volunteers to help facilitate things for passengers on the Tube, which gets very crowded,” he told The Egyptian Gazette. The Greater Cairo Underground is the only full-fledged metro system in Africa. The system consists of two operational lines, with the construction of a third having begun in 2006. It scoops more than two million commuters a day off the Egyptian capital's often-busy streets. The Metro is run by the National Authority for Tunnels (NAT). On all the trains, the middle two carriages (4th and 5th) are reserved for women (the 5th becomes a mixed-use carriage after 9pm). These cars are used by women, who do not wish to ride with men in the same carriage; however, women can still ride the other carriages freely. The first and the last doors of every carriage are for alighting, while the two doors in the middle are for boarding. Because the carriages and platforms get so crowded, especially in the main stations like Sadat and Mubarak, the people don't commit themselves to alighting or boarding using the correct doors. This result is people getting on and off bumping into each other. “I met with a Metro official and told him that we want to improve the service, by politely showing passengers how the system should work,” said Magdi. “We will divide ourselves into groups, some stationed at the ticket windows and others on the platforms, instructing commuters, while others will be inside the carriages themselves,” he said, adding that female volunteers would operate on board the female-only carriages. But Magdi and his team of volunteers have run up against an unexpected obstacle. According to him, the Metro official agreed to help them, but he requested a copy of their national ID and a photo, in order to make identity cards for them, so as to prevent any unauthorised people getting involved in the project. The male volunteers are happy about this, but some of the females aren't, as they think that these identity cards aren't necessary. There is another condition too: the official won't let them begin work until Magdi has organised 500 persons volunteers. According to him, this condition is “crippling”. “It's difficult to organise so many volunteers, especially as the schools and private universities have just reopened. This will make the Tube even busier,” Magdi stressed, adding that he already had 50 volunteers, ten of them females. He hopes to have 150 in a few days' time. “I'm going to meet with another official and I'll try to convince him that 150 is enough, especially as it will only take a week or ten days to teach commuters to change their ways.”
