Underground overpriced?
Finding low-cost parking around the city's main square has just become a little more difficult. Reem Nafie tries the new Tahrir underground garage
The new underground garage in Tahrir Square has provided 600 new parking spaces for a congested downtown. It has also inspired much complaining.
Although rumours regarding the potentially high price of parking there were circulating in abundance as the garage remained closed for months following its official June inauguration by Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, the reality of the garage's LE2.75 per hour charge for parking has still hit hard.
"I don't mind paying LE2.75 if I am running an errand and need to park for an hour or two," said Mohamed Galal, a student at the nearby American University in Cairo (AUC) who had pinned hopes on the garage helping him reduce his parking burdens. "But I can't afford to pay LE25 if I spend eight hours in university every day. I thought this garage would be different."
In many ways it is. The four-storey underground garage is the first of its kind in Egypt. Customers are given a magnetic chip that calculates their bill. Walking on the grass opposite the elevators is not permitted, and will usually result in a dressing down by the security guards at the garage's entrance. Plus, next to the elevators, there are clearly marked spaces for the handicapped.
All of these elements, along with the price, have made the garage's first few weeks somewhat hectic for customers and employees alike.
Mohamed Saad, an employee at a nearby office building, recounted a squabble that took place with one of the garage's janitors. "He screamed at me because I parked in a space that was reserved for handicapped people. How was I supposed to know?" asked Saad. According to Ahmed Saleh, the janitor working on the garage's first floor, there are clear signs indicating that the spots near the elevators are reserved for those with special needs. "People should have common sense and not park there," Saleh told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Do you know how many people make the same mistake everyday? I can't be polite to every single one of them."
Cashier Taha Safwan said the garage's high-tech magnetic chips had been causing problems as well. "Because the chip is so small," Safwan said, "some people have lost or misplaced it. When that happens, the customer is expected to pay a LE100 fee, and a lot of people have been refusing." According to Safwan, people just don't "appreciate or know how expensive it is to manufacture these chips".
The price of parking, meanwhile, has been of more concern. Garage Manager Tarek Shalaby told the Weekly that people's complaints were unfounded. Shalaby said the nearby Bustan Garage charges LE2, and that using downtown's new parking metres was also costly. "What were they expecting?"
"I don't think the rate is high at all," Shalaby said. "The investors spent a lot of money on this project and LE2.75 is a reasonable price to pay to park in such a prestigious garage."
Shalaby said the garage also offered a "monthly fare plan" for students and others who live, work or study nearby. The rate ranges from LE300-LE700 depending on the number of hours the customer needs to park each day. Shalaby said that a hundred students and 150 employees from a nearby hotel had already expressed interest in the plan, "which shows how efficient it is".
According to Shalaby, even though the 600-car garage may not fully resolve downtown's parking woes, a second, and much larger garage -- located on the opposite end of the square, in front of the Egyptian Museum -- was scheduled to open in July 2004. A huge parking and shopping complex, it will have space for 2,700 cars and 60 buses.
Mustafa Hakim, an employee at the nearby Mogamma, was not impressed. "Why doesn't the government just build normal, easy to use garages?" he asked. One thing about the new garage was bothering him in particular. "The receipts are in English. Do they think that everyone reads English?"
Al-Merghani flyover: part of the Heliopolis traffic project
photo: El-Said Abdel-Qader
