A senior official at the Ministry of Transportation said that the National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) is seeking to increase the prices of metro tickets starting in July 2018 and that the increase will be calculated by the number of stations travelled.

The official said, in a statement to Daily News Egypt, that the prices will start from EGP 2 for the first nine stations and then increase by EGP 1 for each nine stations thereafter, up to a maximum of EGP 6 for a single ticket.

The NAT began its procedures to apply the increase in ticket prices according to the number of stations through the setting up of new machines at metro stations.

The number of stations in the first line (Marg-Helwan) is 35 stations, while the second line  (Shoubra-Mounib) is 20 stations, and the third line is expected to reach 32 stations, meant to stretch from Cairo International Airport to the Cairo University, with nine stations currently open and four stations expected to open next year.

The Transportation and Communications Committee of parliament is meeting with Transport Minister Hisham Arafat to discuss the new increases in metro ticket prices.

MP Mohamed Badawi Desouki said that the Ministry of Transport has not recently submitted to the committee any decisions concerning the increase in the prices of metro tickets, adding that this will be discussed with Arafat on Tuesday at a parliamentary meeting.

“The new increase will be very cumbersome for citizens, especially at the moment, and I demand that the price of the metro ticket be at a maximum of EGP 3-4 and within a specific time, starting from midnight until five in the morning,” he said.

Arafat said, before doubling the price of a metro ticket to the current EGP 2, that it can compensate for the losses of the metro.

Desouki said that the transport committee will ask the government to review the revenues and expenses of the NAT to decide whether to approve the increase or not.