Transport minister: Metro fare to increase

Transport Minister Hany Dahy said on Sunday that the Metro fare would increase, according to the distance traveled by passengers.

During the signing of a new financing protocol for the third and fourth Metro lines by French Ambassador Andre Baran and Minister of International Cooperation Naglaa al-Ehwany, Dahy said that without the state subsidizing 50 percent of Metro tickets, it would cost LE8.

The deal guarantees 344 million Euro from the French government for the new Metro lines, which will be equipped with bomb detectors and better passenger services, as well as female police officers to monitor them.

The party-affiliated Al-Wafd newspaper reported on Saturday that Dahy presented a memorandum to Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb, covering all fare increases for the three existing lines — Al-Marg-Helwan, Shubra al-Kheima-Giza and Abbasiya-Heliopolis.

A source within the ministry told the newspaper that the ticket fares have been divided into three types, according to the number of stops traveled. The new fares are LE1, LE1.50 and LE2.

The source added that the increases would be implemented starting in January, in order to cover maintenance costs.

On Monday, in a meeting with Cairo University Students, Mehleb said that there is no country in the world that sells a Metro ticket for LE1, adding that tremendous efforts are needed to counter the impacts of subsidization.

The minister explained that Metro losses reached LE135 million in 2013-2014.