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Egyptian government pushes bike project to reduce traffic, pollution ahead of COP27

In lead-up to COP27, the Egyptian government is exploring ways to encourage citizens to ride bicycles.

MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP via Getty Images
Egyptian Yasmine Mahmoud pushes her bicycle through traffic in Cairo on Dec. 25, 2014. — MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP via Getty Images

CAIRO — Egypt will roll out the Cairo Bike project in mid-July, promoting the use of bicycles as an alternative means of transportation in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

The project comes in the days leading up to the COP27 Climate Summit, which Egypt is scheduled to host Nov. 2-18 in Sharm El-Sheikh. The summit presents itself as a chance for Egypt to step up efforts and implement projects aimed at reducing climate change while finding partners, financing and investments interested in green technology.

The project is the fruit of a partnership between Cairo governorate and other partners with the support of the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) and funding from the Swiss Drosos Foundation. It also received technical support from the Institute for Transport and Development Policy, which supervised the project.

The bike-sharing idea relies on a large network of stations where bikes will be available for public use. The system is managed by a mobile application and offers bike rides at discounted prices starting from one Egyptian pound ($0.05) per hour. Riders can also use rechargeable cards.

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