Navigation on this site is not optimized for your browser

Please use a recent version of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari or Microsoft Edge to get the most out of the experience.

Find a modern browser
Hero picture
news

Regional perspectives and global challenges; the UITP Egypt Conference

23/03/2023
  • Global
  • MENA

Wrapping up the UITP Egypt conference

The recent UITP Egypt Public Transport Conference showed that the public transport sector in the region is looking ahead to an optimistic future as the backbone of urban mobility. But there are challenges to overcome.

With over 250 participants from 22 countries, four themed sessions, a technical visit, the MENA Regional Committee Meeting, and Bus Working Group meeting the whole event brought together stakeholders from public transport and sustainable urban mobility.

The MENA Region is of crucial importance to the wider public transport sector, and a focus area for UITP. In the coming years, the region should see more research projects, training programmes and events to advance public transport and sustainable urban mobility.

Labour force and financing...

…some key take aways

Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, this past year has seen an increase in optimism within the public transport sector. People are continuing to travel, although their habits have changed; and we are now seeing a new wave of investment and innovation that is driving positive change in cities all over the world.

Egypt is making big strides, with the construction of an entirely new administrative capital outside Cairo where a new metro line will connect citizens to major hubs such as Cairo International Airport and Giza.

It was clear that after the pandemic, travel patterns changed. People aren’t traveling on the same day, the same our or for the same distances.

And this causes a gap in financing. We are experiencing growing costs, because of lower demand, inflation and an energy crisis, while staff shortages threaten the quality and continuity of services. In Europe many cities have had to reduce service, while in Australia some agencies have 25% of their positions vacant.

The sector is the backbone to any urban mobility system, and society relies on busses, trams and trains to provide essential mobility. We are not seeing sufficient funding to meet these needs.

The relationship between customers and the public transport sector needs to change. As one speaker noted: we need to move from system centric, to customer centric. In stead of providing service on one particular route, operators should look at door to door solutions.

Technology can help. Innovations like on demand mobility and MaaS applications can help tailor the experience to the individual user. The same technology can also help improve the resilience of public transport service. For example, by informing passengers of route changes because of issues.

Electrification of networks

E-bus deployment around the world has increased rapidly as cities strive to build net zero transport systems. Buses account for more than 80% of public transport trips, and some cities have already achieved fully electric public transportation.

In China, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Xi’an are all pioneering 100% electric public transport systems. India is also taking large strides in e-bus adoption with the largest e-bus tender in the world. The Kochi water metro will include 78 E-boats, while stage 1 of the initiative includes 5450 buses and stage 2 tenders out 50000 buses.

Join more UITP events

The UITP Egypt Public Transport Conference, the MENA Committee Meeting and the UITP MENA Bus Working Group were hosted by UITP member Mwasalat Misr. RATPDev meanwhile, hosted the UITP Regional and Suburban Railways Committee Meeting.

Discover our
Membership benefits
This website uses cookies

This website uses third-party website tracking technologies to give you the best experience, help us understand and continually improve how the site works, and to display advertisements according to users' interests. You consent to the use of our cookies by continuing to browse this website.

Cookies page
Show Details
Name Description
Core and Analytic Core cookies are essential for the website to function by allowing you to browse the website and use some of its features. Analytic cookies help us analyse how the site is used and allow us to perfect and improve your user experience. These cookies do not collect information that identifies you and are enabled by default.
Name Description
Functional These cookies allow a website to remember the user’s site preferences and choices they make on the site including username, region, and language. The data collected by these cookies are only used in connection with this website and cannot be used to track your browsing on other websites.
Name Description
Advertising These cookies track the surfing behavior of a user to a website and personalise your experience by showing you advertisements, offers, etc. tailored to your interests and preferences.