Egypt | Carfree Cities

Egypt

Cairo

BRIEF OVERVIEW

Through the last 10 years, Egypt has witnessed a large increase in both bicycle users and cycling infrastructure projects. Egypt’s bicycle users, who used to constitute a large share of street users, have been in decline since the 1980s with the increase in vehicular traffic, and cycling was labelled as the transport of the poor. However, since 2008, several groups have emerged to ride and promote bicycle use. The connotations of cycling became more diverse, in addition to poverty, luxury, sports, and environmentalism, in addition to transport by choice.

MOST IMPORTANT CURRENT ISSUES

The emergence, image, and action of bicycle groups, have affected the spread of cycling infrastructure, with more than 20 projects in Egypt the last 10 years, but also mostly failed projects, many of which targeted exclusively at luxury. Egypt then stands at a crossroads, whether to learn and build infrastructure that fits the needs of users, and provide a viable transportation alternative, or keep building mostly useless infrastructure.

BEST LOCAL EXAMPLE TO SHOWCASE

The Sohag Corniche lane is the most successful lane in Egypt, as claimed by Tabdeel. It is by far the largest in number of users, the least in trespassing by parking cars, goes through a vital part in the middle of the city to serve transportation, and has developed from a preliminary testing phase, to a second more successful phase. Sohag, and its Neighbouring city Assiut, have the highest numbers of bicycle users in Egypt, reaching 120 users per hour at some points.