Commuters on the Ring Road, a 100 km highway that encircles Cairo and Giza, have felt an improvement in traffic, even in peak hours, with the introduction of the new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).
The new means of transportation started its trial phase on 1 June. This covers a 35-km-long area extending from the intersection of the Ring Road and Alexandria Agricultural Road in the west of Cairo to the Police Academy station in the eastern part known as New Cairo.
There are 14 main stations in the first phase of the BRT. Tickets for the first four stations cost LE5, doubling if a passenger wants to go further.
Compared to the alternative means of transportation, BRT is cheaper, with a microbus ticket costing LE16.
The service is available from 6am until 6pm during the first three months of its experimental phase. Then the operational hours will extend to 12am.
The made-in-Egypt buses are environmentally friendly, an air-conditioned means of mass transportation that moves without rails but on dedicated lanes on the road that no other means of transportation can use.
Any vehicle that uses this lane will be fined to guarantee that the bus is not delayed due to traffic jams. The Ring Road is monitored by cameras to make sure there are no traffic violations.
“It is very good,” says Mona, a housewife who was heading for the Shobra-Benha station. “I think that to ensure that this means of transportation is successful, drivers of microbuses and lorries shouldn’t be using it,” she said, adding the ticket was fairly priced. On the same route, Magdi, a hairdresser, seemed happy with the new service, telling Al-Ahram Weekly he wished that working hours would be extended until late at night. “I believe that the BRT is perfect. I just want to be able to use it after I come back from work at night, as it is safer for me.”
“I enjoyed the ride since it is comfortable and eco-friendly. However, we want to see more signs to guide us to the BRT stations because it took me some time asking for directions until I finally reached the station,” says Hala, another passenger.
Buses will run every three minutes, 20 buses an hour. During peak times, the run time will be reduced to 1.5 minutes to serve the growing number of passengers.
The BRT integrates with other modes of transportation, interchanging services with the first metro line at the Zahraa and Al-Marg stations, the third metro line at the Adli Mansour and Imbaba stations, and the Light Rail Train also at Adli Mansour.
The Transport Ministry announced how to reach these stations via a post on its Facebook page. The project will contribute to encouraging and maximising the use of eco-friendly public transportation systems by attracting those who currently use private cars, and reducing emissions from car exhausts since all buses that will be operated will be electric, which are environmentally friendly.
During the first and second phases of the plan, 100 air-conditioned electric buses will be operated, each with a capacity of 66 passengers, to transport 3,200 passengers an hour in both directions.
The BRT in Greater Cairo will be implemented in three phases, covering an overall distance of 113 km, including 48 stations, in addition to parking spaces, a main charging station, and three subsidiary charging stations.
Work is underway on the second phase, which includes 21 stations, covering the distance from Field Marshal Tantawi intersection to that of Fayoum, including three stations on the Marioutiya-Haram-King Faisal-Tersa axis and the Grand Egyptian Museum station (Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road).
There are now 187 countries around the world using this kind of transportation, including Brazil, the US, China, France, Australia, and Colombia. More than 50 per cent of BRTs can be found in Latin America and Asia. Buses operate 10 km/h faster than regular buses and offer riders a 15-minute decrease in travel time.
The first BRT system in the world was introduced 51 years ago in the city of Curitiba in Brazil.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 17 July, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
Short link: