Egypt has the special advantage of the largest share of its population being young people. The moreyoung people there are, the more room there is innovation and creativity. This can be seen clearly in the application “exchange your metro ticket with someone else.”
Since Friday, with the new increase in prices of metro tickets, many stations saw a state of grumbling amongst commuters. Social media users began sarcastic mockery of the decision of the minister of transport to increase the prices of metro tickets.
A number of young people have developed an innovative idea, though it may be deemed a violation of the law. It involves launching the application “exchange your metro ticket with someone else.”
The idea of the application is to encourage passengers to exchange their tickets with one another to avoid paying the additional cost of the ticket.
For example, if you use the metro and you are coming from Helwan towards Marg or vice versa, you will get a ticket from Helwan, and you when you reach Marg, you exchange the ticket with someone else who had a ticket only from Marg to Helwan at the exchange station. This way, both passengers would pay less money for their commute.
The application will play a role in making users agree to meet and exchange tickets.
According to the founders, through a comment on the application on Google Play, “this is a temporary trial version. The application will be updated within a maximum of two days.”
The Cairo metro company started on Friday enforcing new increases in the prices of tickets after the decision made by the minister of transport, Hisham Arafat, to operate on a system based on number of stations travelled.
The price of a ticket will change based on the number of stations a passenger passes through. The price ranges from EGP 3 to EGP 7 for full tickets, and between EGP 2 and EGP 6 for half tickets.
On Thursday evening, the metro company sent instructions to the stations of the three metro lines to operate their trains according to the new prices starting from Friday morning. They include dividing stations into three categories, the first category being one to nine stations at a price of EGP 3 for a full ticket, and EGP 2 for a half ticket.
The second category includes up to 16 stations. The prices for this category are EGP 5 for a full ticket, and EGP 4 for a half ticket. The third category would include any passengers travelling over 16 stations. The ticket for this category costs EGP 7 for the full ticket and EGP 6 for a half ticket.
