Rough start for new parking system
"Electronic Cairo's" new parking metres aim to resolve at least some of the city's chronic traffic problems -- but not without cost or controversy. Dena Rashed reports
"Electronic Cairo" is the name of the latest Cairo Governorate plan to help ease the flow of traffic and facilitate more parking space in crowded, highly commercial parts of the capital. Underground garages have been a well- publicised facet of this scheme, as are the electronic parking metres that have sprung up on some city streets.
An LE10 million experimental phase of the new parking plan has already begun on four major downtown streets. An LE11 card buys drivers a fixed amount of parking time depending on the hour of day. Parking from 7am to 4pm costs LE1 per hour, 4pm-10pm costs 80 piastres per hour, and 10pm-7am costs a mere 10 piastres per hour.
The LE11 are broken down as LE5 in insurance, LE5 in parking hours, and LE1 in sales taxes. When you leave your space, you can either get your LE5 in insurance back, or buy another LE5 parking card for more parking hours usable at any other time.
The parking attendant supervisor at one of the new "lots" preferred to remain anonymous as he told Al-Ahram Weekly that "the system has not enjoyed widespread acceptance. Some people refuse to pay and sometimes the parking metres don't work so well due to the dust and the heat. Anyway, we are still experimenting."
For the next five years, Saydo Electronics, a private Egyptian firm, will own and manage the project before handing it over to the governorate.
Shop owners who say the new system has hurt their business claimed that a number of Cairo residents are thinking of suing the governorate. On Talaat Harb Street, watch store owner Sherif Maher says there are less parking spaces with the new system because "the space designated for each car is enormous."
Maher says that he and "many other Talaat Harb Street residents can't afford to pay LE10 or more on a daily basis just to park the car." The only solution, he said, will be to try to find spaces on side streets.
Haza'a Khalil, the governorate's investment counselor, said the governorate had not been notified of any lawsuits related to the parking scheme. Khalil said proof of the project's success was in the smoother flow of traffic on the streets where it had been implemented, which means a lot of people will benefit since you can now "shop downtown and find a parking space very easily".
Khalil made clear that the "project will only focus on the city's major streets, with its vital aim to get rid of the incorrect parking methods being used there.
"New projects are always met with resentment from many quarters," he said. "But you always find parking metres in crowded commercial areas of developed countries."
Ever since the metres were launched, there does seem to be an unusually large number of available parking spaces on the street. Mohamed Awad, who works at a shoe shop in front of the new parking spaces, admits that "the street is not as crowded as it was before," but still, he sees the new system as just "another way of milking money from people".
While people have certainly gotten used to paying a sayes, or parking attendant, to -- in the best of cases -- lead them to a good parking spot, or help them get in and out of the space on a crowded street, or -- in the worst of cases -- just stand there implying he owns the space, the two systems' fee structure is vastly different.
The parking attendants still have a role in the new scheme. They have been hired to represent the company and explain the new system to every driver, and make sure they abide by the rules. Generally speaking, it has been taking about five to 10 minutes to explain how the system works.
Not everyone is unhappy. Inji Ibrahim, for one, is very excited about the new project. "I used to never find a parking space downtown," she said. "Because of Christmas, I've been doing more shopping and ended up using the entire LE11 of the first card I bought."
Truck drivers, however, find the new metres highly inconvenient. On Adli Street, small truck owner Hassan Sabet says the government did not take he and his fellow drivers into consideration when they came up with the new system. "It would be impossible for us to pay LE1 an hour to park the truck, since on some days we might sit there all day without getting a single order to deliver goods."
Adli Street is still immune from the new system, and another truck driver, Gamal Mahmoud, says people are flocking there in search of "regular" spaces.
The consensus, however, amongst those interviewed by the Weekly seemed to be that the system did have its benefits, which would not be available for all. "Good services are no longer free," said Galal Abdel-Azim, a shoe shop owner on Tal'at Harb Street.
C a p t i o n : Will traffic jams become a thing of the past?
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 16 - 22 January 2003 (Issue No. 621)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/621/eg8.htm