10 minutes walking..noss sa3a bel autobess!..part 1

Sure you know this theory of Adel Emam at his play “shahed mashafsh 7aga ” , when he was asked about how long it takes from his home to the Zoo , and his answer was “3ashar da2aye2 mashy nos sa3a bel otobess ya beeh ” …and of course all of us laughed at him although it is very true…

I’m here trying to analyze this theory in my own way after 6 years of dealing with the traffic jam in Cairo , and spent much of the time to discover the causes through watching, listening to the people in many places, searching on internet or even from TV.

Of course am not the first one and I won’t be the last one , but I summarized my experience (el motawad3a gedaan) and found that writing is the only way to make me more relax after more than 2 hours in my way back to home..

The post may be long, so it will be (till now) 2 parts isa, I’ll first list some facts about the trips inside Cairo and how much you can take from a place to another, then I’ll talk about the reasons behind the traffic jam from the point of view of people and media, after that I’ll tell you my findings and my discovered reasons, and finally the results of having such a problem in our life ….and any suggestions are welcomed for sureJ

Let’s start with some numerical terrible facts! …maho e7na fe masr b2a om el donya :D

Lets’ say that you are now at Heliopolis (I’ll talk about some not all the destinations):

1. If you want to go to Abbasia using Gesr el Suiess, it will take you around 45 minutes to one hour in normal day ( this may happen if you start the trip at 7:15 or after) , but if it is 7:00 sharp, it may take half of the time!
2. If it is Friday and you want to go the same place it will take you 20 minutes by max !
   
3. If you want to go ba2a to Cairo University ( we de lwa7daha karsaa ) , it will take you ( 3ala ayamay ya3ni ) 1.5-2 hours all the week (except law el ra2ees me3ady wala 7aga ) but in Friday 45 minutes only , Saturday will take 1 hour ( the same is true when you go to Mohandseen , dokki , …) and the way back is 3 hours in all days bardo !
4. It takes from Haram ( el matb3a station) to Nasr city using el Manyaal road then da2ery (beta3 el mo2attam da ) about half an hour only , while trying to take it using the 6^th of October’s bridge 2 hours or more !
5. If you come from New Cairo and want to go to Heliopolis (using Masr-Ismailia ) road, it may take 2 hours in some days !
   
6. balaash masr el gdeda we madenet nasr ….if you are at Cairo University and you want to go to Mohandseen at 3 PM msalaan , you may take an hour even it takes 10 minutes max !
7. It takes from 6^th of October to Nasr City (using 15^th May’s bridge then the 6^th of October’s bridge) 1.5 hours , 1 from the 6^th of October to the Opera Only and the 30-20 minutes from Opera to Nasr city ( in normal cases bardo)

Of course, one of you will tell me “maho dy ya Yassmin fe rush hours bas ”…my reply will be “define when is rush hour in Egypt!”

Blaaaaaaaash kol ellli fooo2 ..han2ool west el balad we za7ma we betaa3 ..5odo 3andoko de b2a ….Mehwar and the Ring road, it takes 3 hours back from 6^th of October to El Hijaz square, although this road is around Cairo not inside!

I’m working in a company that has about 5 buses from 6^th of October to the following places (Haram, Maadi, Heliopolis, Nasr City and Mohandseen) , let’s not talk about Mohandseen , but do you believe that despite that all those regions are different and each of them has totally different distant from 6^th October , the 5 buses reaches their destination in almost the same time ! (mesh far2a ba2a enta saken b3eed wala orayeeb !)

Ok, still not convinced? I’ll give you nice example, if you want to go outside Cairo ( to Alex) using say Super Jet , it may take from 3 hours to 4 , at least 1.5 hours inside Cairo only , believe me, the same when you use your own car…

Then from all the above, we can deduce that the trip from Cairo to Alex is much easier than going from your home to work, wherever you live, wherever you work!

I just here mentioned the time and how much does it take, I didn’t mention how :D:D..and it is the funniest part actually, because if you are using the public transportation, you will find a looooooooootttttttttttttttttttttttttt of things that lead you to become stressed and can’t control your temper, the same for the drivers( and talking about driving at Egypt needs a lot of posts to talk about), but the result is the same, you go to work saturated and can fight with anyone trying to say ( malaak ???), and it is worse when you go home, you become unable to hear or see anybody, it is enough!

You may say, but the traffic jam is something common and exists in many countries, I say “NO” ,nothing is compared to Cairo and its traffic jam. Now, let’s go together to find the reasons behind this problem (yemken ne3raf newsal le 7aal)..

Reasons you may hear in the media:

1. The population ( and they did their best to face this problem through “wa2fa masreya..beta3et ne7akkem 3a2lena nehager kolena ”, “e7sebha sa7 ”, and “7amalaat tanzeem el osra we hato 2 bas 3ashan te3rafo te2akelhom ” wel kalam elli kolena 3arfeno da )
2. The centralization ( where you can find that all ministries are almost at down town which may lead to the crowd), actually they did nothing to solve this problem

Now, the reasons and some solutions from a3adat el fahlawa we fadfadet el sha3b el masry (forgive me for using slang language here):

1. tab3an el centralization, we ya salam ba2a law na2alo el 3asema bara le kahera , eh ya3ni lama ye3melolhom kam wezara bara keda zay fel kahera el gdeda wala 6 octobar msalaan …
2. asl el balad de balad ……mehs nafe3 feha 7aga aslan we 3ayza sawra
3. asl kol wa7ed 3ando aktar men 3arabeya, law ne3mel zay el seen( elli heya China), kol sha2a yeb2a leha max 3arabeya wa7daa, yaaah el azma tet7al
4. asl 3asaket el mroor mesh kefaya
5. asl homa law ye3’ayaro mawa3eed 5roog el mowazafeen wel madares
6. ya salaam ba2a law ye3melo kam kobry keda wala kam nafa2
7. And this opinion( I think it is really the problem!!!), ya salaam ba2a law el setat te3od fe beyothaaaa , yaaaah el denya hatefdaa 5ales
8. el tashrefat tab3an (actually am totally agree with them), mehs lama kol wa7ed mas2ol fel balad de ye7eb yero7 sho3’lo el nas mate3rafsh tero7 sho3’laha heya kman …
9. el 7awades elli benshofha kol kam yom de…

And a lot of reasons are said and random solutions are suggested…

Let’s think wisely, if the centralization is the real problem, so why the ring road is alwaaaaaayyssss crowded( I mean the road of Marg, shoubra, 10^th of Ramadan station), and why is the same for El Mehwar? And what about “Remaaya ” square ?

I disagree also with the people who are saying that the growing population is the main cause (it may be one of the causes not the main), and I have the proof; watch any old film or play talking about Egyptian man problem (I think shahed mashafsh 7aga mentioned that), you will find him talk about “el denya za7ma” , also at one of Mahmoud Abdel Aziz’s movies, he had a song “za7ma ya donia za7ma” although this film is an old one…

kefya 3aleko keda el mara de …see you in the next part :)