Out and about in Egypt ….. planes, trains and automobiles! Planes brought us here but we have been enjoying a range of transport whilst in Egypt. Road travel seems straightforward enough but in addition to private cars and drivers, the domain of the agencies and rich individuals, most travel around Cairo for us is by foot or by taxi. These are largely small and black and white – well used Fiats and Peugeots mainly but a wide range of types. The drivers are all skilled but impatient and often need some slowing down – we’ve learnt the word for “slower”. I’ve also a command of “go left”, “go right”, “go straight ahead” and “here” – all of which are handy if you have some idea where you are going. The drivers generally have little or no English so you need to be able to converse on their terms a little.
The trick is to wave down a cab, if needed, (mostly you are waving offers away). The procedure is then to announce through the window where you want to go – preferably the suburb and some landmark. If the traffic is very bad in that direction the driver may just drive on or, thinking you a tourist, is likely to take the fare expecting much more than the locals pay. You pay by how far and how long the trip (the meters don’t work). I know the Egyptian rates but am happy to pay around twice that for the privilege of being a foreigner. Ten Egyptian pounds is certainly enough for anywhere around inner Cairo and longer trips might warrant 15 or 20 – the range is therefore $2.50 to $5 Australian – still pretty cheap.
The other curious thing is that you might have hired the cab and be travelling along when at some hold-up someone else will jump in with you and all of a sudden you are share riding.
The taxis at Alexandria, black and yellow, were generally newer and neater than the Cairo taxis, but the process was much the same.
Incidentally, taxis caught from outside hotels are generally dearer so I find it best to check them out before departure to avoid an argument. Drivers will often try to extract a very high fare from the unwitting tourist so it is not unusual to have to be firm with them.
A cheaper form of transport for the locals – not yet tried by me – are the buses and minibuses. Each is incredibly crowded and the larger buses may not fully stop but the locals just jump on anyway. The springs are generally truly “shot” and the buses lean at awkward angles. No real stops, you may imagine that you are standing waiting to cross the road with a bunch of people only to find that a bus pulls up and some hop on while others wait for some other, unidentifiable vehicle
The other means of transport we have used is the Cairo metro, or underground. Not all that extensive in coverage, it is very efficient and mostly modern. Electric trains run every 8 or 10 minutes max. and although sometimes crowded, they are easy to use. The first two carriages are for women only so that makes it less crowded for the girls. The fare, anywhere in the net work, is one pound per trip – less than 25c.
The Alex tram system, which we caught but once, is less efficient, fast and comfortable, but can carry you a long way for 25 piastres. A 25 piastre note is one quarter of a pound and an Australian dollar buys around 4.5 pounds, so a tram trip costs around 8 cents – not bad for public transport.
But just when you think you are mastering public transport, a sobering event. Last Wednesday night we planned to take in the 6.00pm “light and sound show” at the pyramids and to dodge the traffic, we caught the metro to Giza station and caught a cab for “Giza pyramid and sphinx” to make a shorter taxi ride. Seemed straight forward enough although the route was unfamiliar. Unfamiliar until I noticed the Giza zoo, just around the corner from home. We were being taken it seems to the Pyramisa Hotel, not far from the Sheraton near us – we had boomeranged. The driver would not stop or be redirected and even my attempts to draw the pyramids and sphinx (not a bad effort on the run if I do say so myself) led to no more than a knowing and inscrutable smile. We missed the light show and the driver missed a large fare getting only the local rate for such a journey (home).
The trick is to wave down a cab, if needed, (mostly you are waving offers away). The procedure is then to announce through the window where you want to go – preferably the suburb and some landmark. If the traffic is very bad in that direction the driver may just drive on or, thinking you a tourist, is likely to take the fare expecting much more than the locals pay. You pay by how far and how long the trip (the meters don’t work). I know the Egyptian rates but am happy to pay around twice that for the privilege of being a foreigner. Ten Egyptian pounds is certainly enough for anywhere around inner Cairo and longer trips might warrant 15 or 20 – the range is therefore $2.50 to $5 Australian – still pretty cheap.
The other curious thing is that you might have hired the cab and be travelling along when at some hold-up someone else will jump in with you and all of a sudden you are share riding.
The taxis at Alexandria, black and yellow, were generally newer and neater than the Cairo taxis, but the process was much the same.
Incidentally, taxis caught from outside hotels are generally dearer so I find it best to check them out before departure to avoid an argument. Drivers will often try to extract a very high fare from the unwitting tourist so it is not unusual to have to be firm with them.
A cheaper form of transport for the locals – not yet tried by me – are the buses and minibuses. Each is incredibly crowded and the larger buses may not fully stop but the locals just jump on anyway. The springs are generally truly “shot” and the buses lean at awkward angles. No real stops, you may imagine that you are standing waiting to cross the road with a bunch of people only to find that a bus pulls up and some hop on while others wait for some other, unidentifiable vehicle
The other means of transport we have used is the Cairo metro, or underground. Not all that extensive in coverage, it is very efficient and mostly modern. Electric trains run every 8 or 10 minutes max. and although sometimes crowded, they are easy to use. The first two carriages are for women only so that makes it less crowded for the girls. The fare, anywhere in the net work, is one pound per trip – less than 25c.
The Alex tram system, which we caught but once, is less efficient, fast and comfortable, but can carry you a long way for 25 piastres. A 25 piastre note is one quarter of a pound and an Australian dollar buys around 4.5 pounds, so a tram trip costs around 8 cents – not bad for public transport.
But just when you think you are mastering public transport, a sobering event. Last Wednesday night we planned to take in the 6.00pm “light and sound show” at the pyramids and to dodge the traffic, we caught the metro to Giza station and caught a cab for “Giza pyramid and sphinx” to make a shorter taxi ride. Seemed straight forward enough although the route was unfamiliar. Unfamiliar until I noticed the Giza zoo, just around the corner from home. We were being taken it seems to the Pyramisa Hotel, not far from the Sheraton near us – we had boomeranged. The driver would not stop or be redirected and even my attempts to draw the pyramids and sphinx (not a bad effort on the run if I do say so myself) led to no more than a knowing and inscrutable smile. We missed the light show and the driver missed a large fare getting only the local rate for such a journey (home).
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