Cairo to bring 10 gas-powered buses into service on Saturday

CAIRO –12 July 2019: Cairo governorate will celebrate on Saturday receiving 10 gas-powered buses as part of 121 others which the Public Transport Authority has contracted to bring into service.

The Authority announced in December operating four new locally manufactured buses fueled by natural gas as part of the country’s efforts to solve traffic problems in Cairo.

The authority's head Rizk Ali said that the experimental operation of the four buses comes as part of preparations to operate about 130 buses in the capital.

He added that tickets of the natural gas-fueled bus will cost LE 4 ($0.24) each, adding that the rest of the buses will be operated following the success of the experimental phase.

Kastour Egypt, which manufactured the new buses fueled with natural gas, earlier proved its success after it introduced air-conditioned double-decker buses to the Egyptian streets.

The first batch of the double-decker buses operated in March 2018. It included 12 buses running in two transport lines through the densely-populated capital. Tickets for the new 71-seater buses cost LE 5 ($0.3)

In an interview with Egypt Today in March, former Cairo Governor Atef Abdel Hamid stated that the operation of these buses in the streets of Cairo is considered the start of the cultivation leap witnessed by the Public Transport Authority for the first time in its history and that the cost of the first batch of buses is estimated at LE 28 million ($1.68million(.

The new double-decker buses are part of the company's LE 1 billion ($60.17 million) plan to bring a total of 180 buses and mini buses into operation along 18 lines across Cairo in its first phase, Kastour company said in a statement.