Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli expressed on Thursday 20/10/2022 happiness over the launch of the first stage of Cairo Bike project ahead of the UN climate conference, COP27, due in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El Sheikh in November.

He said the government seeks to encourage young people and others to use bikes instead of cars to reduce traffic congestion and limit air pollution.

The project is the first public bike-sharing system in Egypt and was carried out by Cairo City Hall, the United Nations Human Settlement Program and Drosos Foundation.

Housing Minister Essam el Gazar, Cairo Governor Khaled Abdel Aal together with a number of diplomats attended the opening ceremony.

The Cairo Bike Project, which aims to reduce harmful gas emissions, was launched ahead of the 27th UN Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP27) that will be held next month.

The governorate inaugurated the project by setting up five stops for its pilot operation at Tahrir, Mohamed Farid, and Abdel-Moneim Riyad Squares, in addition to El-Falaki and Abdel-Khaleq Tharwat Streets in Downtown Cairo, according to a statement.

Users can rent a bike for EGP 1/hour and EGP 8 for the whole day through a mobile application or with prepaid cards. All bikes are fitted with a GPS tracker.

It is a project that aims to encourage and promote the use of bicycles as an alternative means of transportation. It is also the first bike-sharing system to be implemented by the government in Egypt.

The project depends on the presence of a large network of points where bikes are available for public use through the mobile application.

It also seeks to reduce the increasing dependence on cars within the framework of the diversity of healthy and eco-friendly transportation, which will contribute to reducing traffic congestion in the Downtown area, the Cairo governor said.

Source: State Information Service Egypt