In order to tackle the traffic crisis in Cairo, our respected officials shouldn't concentrate on evacuating some governmental departments from the capital or creating new axes and bridges to ease the traffic on streets of Cairo. Instead, the Government should follow the example of developed countries by upgrading public transport to encourage the citizens, rich and poor alike, to use it, instead of driving their cars to work and back. We cannot deny that public transport, even the Tube, is in poor condition, hence the rising dependence on private cars. The proof is that owners of these cars are not just the rich or from the upper middle class. Many middle-class citizens are resorting to bank loans to purchase new cars, even though the instalments are very expensive, in some cases swallowing up more than 50 per cent of their monthly income. Either they're fed up with the standard of public transport or they live in the new cities, where, in many cases, there is a big shortage of public transport, which hasn't kept pace with the expansion of Greater Cairo, which now covers five governorates. Apparently, the Government assumes that young people are rich enough to afford their own cars, forgetting that the capital's roads can't cope with all the vehicles using them already. The fleet of 200 new red buses, launched a couple of weeks ago in Greater Cairo Zone, is a step in the right direction. However, they're not air-conditioned and don't cover remote destinations. Car owners would surely use public transport, providing it were adequate and efficient, as it would save them time and money. If the Government is serious about upgrading public transport, the result will be fewer traffic jams, big savings on petrol and less air pollution.
