The Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC) launched an initiative yesterday to encourage entrepreneurs to solve the traffic problems in Cairo. Sponsored by Vodafone, EgyptInnovate, Google and Orange, the initiative called the “Cairo Transport App Challenge” is a competition for entrepreneurs to come up with applications which aim to solve one of the biggest problems in Cairo – traffic.
If you live in Cairo like I do, you’ll know that Cairo Traffic cannot be described as anything less than total and utter chaos, there are no rules, no ways of predicting how the driver in front of you will react, and within a week of buying a new car, it’ll have a couple of bumps here and there that have appeared out of nowhere. Of course, there’s also the commutes which lead up to 2 hours and of course the unpredictability of how long it’ll take to point A to point B, especially if it’s a meeting across town – there’s a 90% chance you’re going to be late.
Now, instead of the old – Cairo Traffic is Insane mentality – the #TAppCairo event yesterday did share some very invaluable stats and info:
- There are 14 million cars on the road everyday of which 70% only carry 1-2 persons in the car.
- Our average commute time is 34 minutes (which is a surprise, it feels like ALOT longer), but this is expected to increase by 4 times by 2015 to around 150 minutes
- Daily average road traffic speed is at 21.4 km/h (2001) expected to drop to 9.3 km/h by 2015
- Egypt loses 30 billion EGP per year due to congestion in Cairo, through direct and indirect means
That kind of data shows just how much Cairo needs a solution, from both the private and public sectors. What’s very interesting and quite hilarious is that, apparently, in the world of traffic simulators, the program simulation to define an “Egyptian driver” has had to be customised from scratch cause let’s face it, we’re quite “special”.
The areas to tackle (or problem statements as the TIEC likes to call it), are as follows:
Problem 1: Traffic Data Collection & Congestion
This is about collecting the data that is needed to “direct” policies in government and to integrate with other traffic applications. The kind of thing they’re talking about is data needs on:
- Speed
- Travel time and delays (Almost a pretrip traffic system)
- Traffic volume and peak volume
- Vehicle kilometer travelled
- Vehicle Classification
- Emission Levels
- …
Some of the solutions which might collect the above include:
- Intrusive Sensors (Loops and WIM – Loops are like detectors which detect the space between cars and the distance travelled apparently – don’t quote me on this!)
- Extrusive Sensors (Radars, AVIs, Road Cameras)
- GPSs
- Floating Phones
I believe we’re thinking the kind of tools provided by TOMTOMs and other providers.
The ultimate solution is to have a database of this kind of information to be able to statistically analyse the data using averages, standard deviations, etc.
Problem 2: Public Transportation Information System
The problem here is that as Egyptians, we don’t have any information about public transport times, especially that a lot of the public transportation is by our highly amusing Microbuses – if you don’t know what they are, they’re white vans with a million people sitting in them, with the driver continuously stopping randomly in the middle of the road to pick up passengers, – (the driver generally looks angry and drives like a mad man).
The kind of data TIEC would want an application to provide is:
- Schedules
- Route information
- Time Tables
- No. of stops
For public transport, this would be like the kind of information management systems I used to use in the UK for transport in London. You could plan you’re trip from A to X with 5 stops in the middle and it would give you every mode of transport connected together with options. You could preplan your trip, with the total number of stops and ultimately make your life easier. By public transport, it would include “transport methods” like walking, trains, metros, taxis, microbuses and the main CTA buses.
Some best practise apps out there include the “Altair Fleet management system” (according to TIEC)
Problem 3: Transport Management and Enforcement
The kind of issues and solutions that could be solved here include:
- Licensing microbuses to work within specific “zones”
- Ensuring traffic violations are recorded and shared with the police
- Education on what the rules of the roads are
Problem 4: Gender Safety and Education
This is a tough one. But if you live in Cairo, you’ll know that women in Cairo have a tough time driving. From people not respecting them and purposely trying to run them off the road, through to the tragic sexual harassment of women drivers with people following them, opening doors, and trying their best to get their attention – to much worse.
Looking at this from a statistical point of view (which is hard given the tragic subject), is that, there is proof that women do get harassed in Cairo compared to other countries.
- In Japan, women do an average of 5-6 trips per day
- In Egypt, women do an average of 2.4-2.6 trips per day
When you think about the productivity of individuals, the peace of mind of women when driving and the overall economic impact and living conditions, this kind of problem is a national disaster.
The final problem: Driving Behaviour & Education
As mentioned, Egyptian drivers are “special”. Now, we would need a re-education on what the rules of the road are. Some of these things include:
- Assessment and training of drivers
- Improving poor driver performance (things like stopping drivers from making improper U-Turns, poor lane discipline, etc.)
- Rehabilitation of disabled drivers
- Retraining and education of elderly people
What the “Cairo Transport App Challenge” is about
Now, when looking at the above, it’s pretty daunting, the government and the private sector are going to have one hell of a job to try and solve this problem, but I feel the fact that the government is trying to engage the private sector is brilliant – Egyptian entrepreneurs have to innovate to try to take a crack at solving some of these problems.
The Cairo Transport App Challenge, is just that – it’s about trying to encourage entrepreneurs to solve these problems and in return help the communities in Cairo, and also to win a chance to win a bit of cash and some publicity.
You can find out more about the challenge at http://cairo.hackathome.com/
What I think
Now with all that said, Caireans definitely need solutions to our transport and traffic issues. However, the government really needs to get it’s act in gear to solve the problem in tandem rather than just relying on the private sector. Yes, the competition is great to give entrepreneurs those all encompassing deadlines (and potential wins, which to be honest, aren’t what they’re all about – we’re just competitive people and we love the challenge), but without a massive investment in good roads, some well thought our urban planning, full blown car parks in every neighbourhood, proper education of drivers PRIOR to allowing them on the road, and enforcing the law, then no matter what solutions entrepreneurs come up with, it’ll just be the tip of the iceberg.
Therefore, if you’re reading this, and your from the government, I really appreciate the effort to get entrepreneurs involved, but please invest in infrastructure and urban planning in Cairo, and we promise to do our part.
For more information and data check out http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/docsearch/projects/P121712