Cairo Metro - Cairo's Need For A Metro

Cairo's Need For A Metro

As the biggest and most densely populated city in Africa, and the Arab World, the case for a metro in Cairo was strong. In 1987 that population stood at 10 million residents, not counting the two million or so commuters who came into Cairo every day to work. The capacity of Cairo's public transport infrastructure was around 20,000 passengers/hour, which increased to 60,000 after the construction of the Metro. In 1990 a study was conducted for the future needs of the city and showed there was a need for about 8.4 million journeys by public transport and 2.7 million journeys by other modes, such as taxi and car. The actual public transport capacity is 4.9 million journeys/day, 3.5 million short of the actual requirement. This has led to a 50% increase in the number of taxis on the streets with subsequent increases in traffic congestion in the city.