Egypt to double metro ticket price to EGP 2

Egypt will increase the price of standard metro-tickets to EGP 2, doubling the cost from EGP 1, transport minister Hisham Arafat announced on Thursday. In comments to state-run news agency MENA, Arafat said that the increase had previously been set at 3 EGP, but the minister had insisted on keeping it at 2 EGP. Earlier on Thursday, a source at the ministry told Al-Ahram that special-needs passengers and "other categories" will have their tickets priced at EGP 1 and EGP 1.5, respectively. It's unclear which categories will be exempted from the EGP 2 pricing. The announcement of the price increase follows approval by the cabinet on Thursday and a series of discussions in parliament in the attendance of Arafat. No date has been set for the implementation of the price rise. However, the minister said it would take place "very soon".