Snarl-ups to Start-ups: Cairo’s Jams Inspire Tech Solutions

Snarl-ups to Start-ups: Cairo’s Jams Inspire Tech Solutions

Cairo, the most populous Arab city where a fifth of all Egyptians live, is ranked 30th worst in the world for congestion, according TomTom, the Dutch vehicle navigations systems maker. (AFP)

In gridlocked and heavily polluted Cairo, start-ups are searching for technological solutions to solve the transport headaches for an expanding megacity already struggling with over 20 million people.

With only three metro lines and overcrowded, run-down buses servicing the capital, public transport is stretched to its limits.

"The problem of traffic in Greater Cairo has resulted in very low average speeds, not exceeding 10 kilometers (six miles) per hour," said traffic expert Osama Okail, from Cairo University, who says the solution to the capital's woes must lie in fixing public transport.

Cairo, the most populous Arab city where a fifth of all Egyptians live, is ranked 30th worst in the world for congestion, according to TomTom, the Dutch vehicle navigations systems maker.

Runaway growth has pushed the ancient city to breaking point.

Egypt's government has embarked on an ambitious urban transformation, but that is mainly focused on the construction of a new administrative city some 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Cairo.

In Cairo itself, several giant road flyovers have been built to avoid jams in