CAIRO - As Egypt's road congestion and air pollution get ever worse, the Environment Ministry said on Wednesday it would launch an ambitious project to revitalise Egypt's once-thriving cycling culture by selling very cheap bikes to students and governmental employees. “This plan aims to make it easier for people to travel short distances in the nation's cities and towns,” the Ministry explained, adding that it will start the project in Shebin el-Kom City, el-Menoufia Governorate. We used to see hundreds of cyclists ringing their bells in small towns, but they have now been replaced by traffic jams and blaring horns, as the nation's rich have embraced the private car as a means of transportation. When the nation launched its economic reforms in the early 1990s, the number of Egyptians using bikes dropped significantly. For governmental agencies like the Ministry of Environment, which advocates clean public transport, the bicycle is the perfect solution for Egypt's traffic and pollution problems. Some Egyptians have told The Gazette that they support the Ministry's project. “I like riding a bike. I don't like taking public transport or driving a car,” says Nadine Kamel, a 19-year-old university student living in the Cairo neighbourhood of Hadaaiq el-Qubba. “To protect the environment, the number of cars allowed in Cairo has to be limited,” she argues. Unlike in major cities such as Cairo, Shebin el-Kom City Council is considering the Ministry's project, which will help reduce traffic and improve air quality in el-Menoufia Governorate, 80km northwest of the capital. The project, according to Ministry officials, aims at putting nearly a quarter of the city's students, employees and workers on bicycles, which the users can buy at affordable prices or on the never-never. However, the Ministry hasn't revealed how much the bikes will cost. At the exit to Manshiet el-Sadr Underground Station near Hadaaiq el-Qubba, 19-year-old student Alaa Hossam el-Nadi of Ain Shams University says he likes the project. “It's a very safe means of transport. It also allows young people like myself to get some exercise. But the important thing is to reduce traffic jams and protect the environment,” he explains. However, the project may be difficult to implement in Cairo, where cars are more than a means of transport, he says. “They are a status symbol and a sign of being rich,” el-Nadi stresses, adding that the Ministry's project may succeed at the provincial level. In the small Suez Canal City of Ismailia, 120km northeast of Cairo, many residents use bikes to go to work or school. But many cyclists ride without lights, helmets, or reflective clothing, while children often ride sidesaddle on the back of their fathers' bikes on their way home from school. Bikes fitted with small electric motors for the elderly are becoming increasingly popular in this small city these days. Some Egyptians, especially in Cairo, are past masters at cycling, while holding a tray full of bread on their heads. They also balance bags or even boxes of shopping on their handle bars and some cyclists are seen in the city streets transporting children, chairs and even television sets.
