Taking the metro in Cairo

I take the metro to work every day. A single ride costs 10 Egyptian pounds, which is about 16 cents. I ride for one station and then transfer. On the first morning, I saw a subway leave and about 2-3 minutes later, the next one arrived. I was surprised and impressed by this frequency, which people in Berlin can only dream of at the moment. And it was pleasantly empty, air-conditioned, and surprisingly only women were inside. I took the opportunity to count how many women were wearing headscarves and how many were not. There were about 30 women in this compartment, and apart from me, only one did not wear a headscarf. It may be that this sample is representative. What I found interesting was that on some doors it said Entrance and on others No Entrance.

The next subway was a different picture, quite full, pleasantly air-conditioned, with displays in Arabic and Latin script of the stations and mainly men. When getting off, the puzzle is solved as to why there were only women in the first one. I see 2 signs on the platform saying Ladies. So there are women-only compartments, if I estimate correctly, about half of the carriages.

This time I couldn't find the signs that said Entrance or No Entrance. In the carriage, I also found a notice that older people, people with disabilities, and ladies should be offered a seat. Well, the latter did not happen; no one offered me a seat, and as far as I noticed, other women did not get offered one either.

On the way back, there was a surprise: there are also other trains that are not air-conditioned. Ha, it was worth taking the fan I brought from Spain. On the way there, I had put on a neck scarf. I was prepared. Yesterday, on the way back, a woman noticed how I was observing the window shades in such a train and smiled at me. I took it down. She then found an even better solution for me: taking the next bench to pull down the window shade, so no sunlight came in. On the opposite side, almost no sun came in; she sat there, and there was no free seat.

There are designated seats, but usually, at least one more woman sits on the bench. I am a bit broader (and taller) than most Egyptian women, so sometimes I don’t lean back when taking a seat from another woman. They are also not shy to ask you to shuffle down. Often people slide down to allow a woman to sit close to her standing place. The metro runs partly underground and partly above ground. In the carriages with fresh air, there are no displays or announcements for the next stop. Fortunately, the stops are also written in Latin script. There’s no way around it; I need to learn the Arabic alphabet again. It will surely be very helpful when shopping. I learned it in the two-week Modern Standard Arabic course at the TU mentioned in another post, and I actually forgot everything completely. Well, I didn’t practice afterward.

And it can be very loud because the metro is also a popular sales spot, and sometimes up to 3-5 people simultaneously offer their goods in a compartment, hanging them on the “prepared” rings; one had 3 suspension systems right away. I heard that the prices are very affordable, and as I see, it is also well utilized.

After about a week, I read in my Marco Polo travel guide, which was a gift from my double header group, that women are strongly advised against using the metro and to avoid crowds because of the ever-present gropers. I thought that was nonsense. Then, in the early evening, I took the metro to historic Cairo. I had never experienced such a huge crowd when changing trains, and I felt a slight touch and immediately turned around, and the man continued to push forward. So they do exist. My family doctor had warned me about them; she lived in Cairo as a teenager with her family because her father worked there as a diplomat. She said she was touched so much that she could only move around by taxi. This is estimated; I don’t know her age, about 45-50 years ago.

I remembered acquaintances who were thrilled about a trip to Cairo and explicitly asked one whether she had been touched. No. Now I am especially cautious and check who is standing/walking behind me.

The subway itself wasn’t as full that evening as it was recently in the morning; I had never experienced a subway in Berlin being so stuffed. I had no chance of taking off my backpack, and it definitely could not fall over. I was worried about how to manage my luggage, which I had taken to work so I could go straight to the bus station for the next leg to Alexandria. I was lucky; the subway was crowded, but I fit in, though I caused some discontent with my travel backpack. Taking it off was only possible after a few stops, and after a few more, a young woman offered me her seat. On the way to the bus station, I encountered a fairly empty subway. Sometimes in the morning, it can be surprisingly empty.

In the morning, the frequency was always good; once I probably waited 4 minutes, which felt very long to me. In the afternoons, however, when I return after a long day around 4 PM, I often wait longer. There can also be times when I see 2 in the opposite direction and still wait. I saw one of my bosses after a training session also in the subway; she always walks one stop towards the city center, where it’s busier. At this subway station, there are more shops and stalls, like a small market. She also finds the noise very exhausting. She is Egyptian; one of my young colleagues takes the metro when she visits her mother and was sad to have forgotten her headphones because she also finds the noise exhausting.