On 20 October last year, the government of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, launched the first phase of the “Cairo Bike” project, one of the projects that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been keen to hint at since his first year as president of Egypt. Officials came up with the idea of a public bike-sharing system in the capital’s streets, with the first phase opening with 250 bicycles distributed across 26 stations covering Downtown, Garden City and Zamalek (vital areas in central Cairo), through a modern electronic system that relies on an app to book a bicycle for a fee of one Egyptian pound per hour (about USD 0.03), with a maximum of eight pounds per day (about USD 0.27). The bicycle is connected to an electronic tracking system and GPS to prevent theft and to tighten control over its users. According to official statements, the second phase of the project will add another 250 bicycles, and the number of stations in the areas mentioned will reach 45.
The opening of the first phase of the project attracted great interest from Cairo and its media, to the point that the Egyptian prime minister himself led the opening in one of the most prominent squares in the centre of the capital, signalling the interest of the political leadership itself in the matter. Sisi, who appeared for the first time riding a bicycle in the streets of Cairo while running for president in March 2014, has repeatedly urged Egyptians to use bicycles in order to “reduce the consumption of energy that the state subsidises with billions of dollars annually”. This means that the call to return to a cycling culture was, for the Egyptian regime, primarily economic from the start.
How Did the Idea of Cairo Bike Emerge?
The project called “Cairo Bike”, which aims, according to official statements, to promote the use of bicycles to help reduce economically costly traffic congestion[1], in addition to reducing environmental pollution in the Egyptian capital, which was ranked, according to a report published by Forbes in 2018, as the most toxic and polluted city in the world, was put forward with the support of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, which held talks with the Egyptian government to implement the project from 2016. A memorandum of understanding was signed in July 2017 between Cairo governorate and the UN organisation, followed by the cooperation contract in July 2019, with support and funding of USD 1.4 million from the Swiss Drosos Foundation, and technical support and supervision from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. But since then, talk of the project stopped completely until Cairo revived it in conjunction with its preparations to host the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, known in the media as the climate summit (COP27), held last November in the city of Sharm El-Sheikh (on the south-eastern coast of the Sinai Peninsula).
Criticism was directed at the Egyptian regime because of the project’s suspension since 2017, and activists accused the regime of trying to obstruct or postpone it in favour of other, perhaps more profitable, projects/programmes launched by the Egyptian government with the support of the presidency, foremost among them the “A Bicycle for Every Citizen” initiative in 2019, which aimed to distribute bicycles to citizens and university students at reduced prices, according to officials at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, who explained that the first phase would include the distribution of 100,000 bicycles. But after about three years, only 9,600 bicycles have been distributed, in three phases, through the “Your Bicycle, Your Health” initiative, launched in June 2020. The first phase saw the distribution of only a thousand bicycles, even though 53,000 applications were submitted, according to official data, while applications increased in the following phases. The prices of the bicycles offered met some objections and mockery from citizens, as the ministry offered in its announcement types with prices ranging between EGP 1,909 and EGP 12,000, at a time when nearly 30 million Egyptians suffer from poverty, according to the income and expenditure survey issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (Egypt’s official statistics agency), which showed that the poverty rate in Egypt reached about 29.7 per cent in 2019/2020. According to personal interviews, citizens considered buying a bicycle at present nothing but a “luxury”, especially since their movement depends mostly on public transport because their workplaces are far from their homes, so a bicycle would be of no use to them.
Criticism after the Opening
After the opening of the first phase of the project, widespread criticism spread on social media of how the 2-kilometre bicycle lanes, running from Tahrir Square through Talaat Harb Street and some branching streets, are managed, especially with the appearance of video clips filmed by citizens showing that some of those lanes have come to be used for parking cars or as a footpath instead of performing their original function. Tweeters and activists circulated the footage on social media, asking whether the project would succeed or not, especially since the regime launched it only a few days before the climate conference, which raises the question of whether the purpose of the project was to beautify the regime’s own image ahead of the climate conference.
In a field tour that included some interviews with citizens in the Downtown area, opinions were divided between supporters and critics of the project. Supporters believe the project suits residents of nearby areas who work within the centre of the capital and can use bicycles as an alternative means of transport to expensive taxis. Critics, however, believe the project is nothing but political propaganda to beautify the regime’s image and to present an imaginary picture that the current government, which cuts down trees and reduces green spaces, in what tweeters have called “massacres of old trees”[2], and increases the construction of roads and cement buildings, is an environmentally friendly government, which contradicts the steps it takes on the ground. Meanwhile, an informed source explained that there are other uses of the bicycles by “delivery workers”, who rent bicycles for eight hours a day instead of buying one to deliver orders to customers.
Dressing Up for the Climate Summit
The official statements of the Egyptian state did not deny that the launch of the project was linked to Egypt’s preparations to host the climate conference (COP27), held last November. The state’s official announcement highlighted only information about the number of stations and the number of bicycles used in the first phase of the project, but it ignored details related to infrastructure and the necessary safety factors, foremost among them allocating sufficient safe lanes for bicycles, especially since Cairo’s streets are designed primarily to serve cars, or installing traffic signals and putting up signs for cyclists, or distributing safety helmets, or introducing a traffic law suited to the use of bicycles.
Perhaps this is what Rania Hedeya, country programme manager of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in Egypt, referred to in remarks when she said that “the project will contribute to changing the way the city’s streets are planned. Usually, thinking in urban planning focuses on cars. We believe that the priority in planning should be enabling people to use different means in their daily journeys from one place to another. Instead of resorting to widening streets, today we are cutting out parts of them for bicycle use. This is in line with Egypt Vision 2030 and with the dialogues and negotiations witnessed by the climate conference, and that is why UN-Habitat began a dialogue years ago with the Egyptian government to introduce new sustainable mobility systems such as bicycles, and to link them with traditional mass transport such as the metro network or buses, to encourage people to rely less on their private cars in their journeys”.
Activists accuse the Egyptian regime of merely trying to dress itself up to improve its image for the climate summit hosted by the city of Sharm El-Sheikh, saying that Cairo expected to obtain a package of aid and special funding that might help it overcome the economic crisis and the severe shortage of foreign currency reserves. Indeed, Egypt came out with some aid announced by a number of participants, such as US President Joe Biden, who stated during his speech at the climate summit that he would provide USD 500 million to Egypt to help its transition to clean energy. Germany also announced a grant of EUR 250 million to Egypt.
Perhaps the fingers of accusation pointed by opponents at home have converged with those of writers and activists outside Egypt: The Guardian had published an article by writer Naomi Klein highlighting the Egyptian regime’s efforts to improve its image and to use the climate summit as a means to beautify the image of the police state the West sees it as.
Choked Streets
Perhaps the most pressing question regarding the “Cairo Bike” project, repeated by experts in the environment and road engineering, is: are Cairo’s roads fit to accommodate bicycle lanes in the first place?
In a joint booklet issued by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme[3], the contributors said that “bicycle tracks should be placed between the footpath and the carriageway to reduce collisions with pedestrians. Bicycle tracks are physically separated from the carriageway, compared with bicycle lanes marked with paint, which offer little protection to cyclists. At least two metres should be allocated for one-way tracks, and three metres for two-way tracks. Bollards should be installed to prevent motor vehicles from encroaching on these tracks, leaving a clear space of one and a half metres between one bollard and the next”.
And while the “Cairo Bike” project was launched from the outset under the sponsorship and with the participation of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, those responsible for the project did not take into account the standards the institute pointed to in its research when they began planning and implementing the project’s bicycle lanes. Cairo governorate announced the creation of bicycle lanes in Downtown streets, as a first phase 2 kilometres long, on Mohamed Farid, Talaat Harb, Qasr El-Nil, Mostafa Kamel and 26 July streets, with the lane set at a width of about 1.7 metres, that is, less than the proposed standard of 2 metres for one-way lanes or 3 metres for two-way lanes. This was criticised by some road experts, who believe that bicycle lanes cannot be planned in some old areas and cities, especially the capital, Cairo, whose old areas have roads unsuitable for bicycle lanes because of severe congestion and pavement encroachments that force citizens to walk on the road next to cars. Therefore, such lanes could be implemented in new cities and districts, not in central Cairo.
In her research, urban planning researcher Dalia Ezzat pointed out that the success of a bicycle system depends on its design and its fulfilment of special engineering and urban standards. The system consists of 12 indispensable elements: (the bicycle lane, bicycle parking places, the bicycle stopping device, traffic direction signs, conventional bicycle paths, the bicycle path right-of-way, protected bicycle paths, the bicycle starting point, the turning area, the bicycle traffic signal, bicycle paths regulating traffic flow, and the bicycle left-turn lane). She added that it is preferable to raise the bicycle lane above the road surface, which increases safety: the greater the distance from car traffic and the higher the lane above it, the more the rider feels safe and the lower the likelihood of collision with cars. This does not appear in the planning of the bicycle lanes the government has actually implemented as part of the project.
… And the question remains: is the use of bicycles a solution in the capital, Cairo, despite the absence of infrastructure such as bicycle lanes and bicycle parking, not to mention the harassment cyclists are subjected to? And will the following phases of the “Cairo Bike” project be completed, or was it merely a stop to beautify the regime’s image ahead of the global climate conference?
[1] Traffic congestion in Greater Cairo costs the Egyptian economy up to USD 8 billion annually, according to a study on “Cairo Traffic Congestion” prepared by the World Bank in May 2014. To read the full study: https://www.worldbank.org/pdf
[2] The largest tree massacre was in 2018, when trees in the Montaza Gardens in Alexandria, historic and long-established gardens, were cut down; incidents then followed in governorates such as Port Said, Mansoura and Ismailia, and then in Cairo governorate, in the Heliopolis district, Merryland Park, the Fish Garden and others.
[3] The booklet is entitled “Streets for Walking and Cycling: Designing for Safety, Accessibility and Comfort in African Cities”. To read the full booklet: https://www.itdp.org/.pdf
