As January 2022 drew to a close, news circulated that Minister of Military Production Ahmed Morsi, and Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea have inspected a vehicle which is set to replace the tuk tuk on Egyptian streets. Tuk tuks, the small three-wheeled vehicles that deftly wriggle through the streets and alleyways of Egypt’s overcrowded, underprivileged neighbourhoods, act as much-needed transport means where almost no other means are available, but are also sources of great trouble. They carry no official traffic licence and are notorious for being driven by irresponsible youngsters. As such, there have been calls to outlaw them and, given the need for adequate transport in the neighbourhoods they serve, to replace them by safer, licensed vehicles.
The new projected vehicle is a four-wheel vehicle safer than the traditional tuk tuk, powered by a dual-fuel petrol/natural gas engine, fulfilling thus the requirement of cleaner fuel to reduce carbon emissions. According to the State Ministry of Military Production, the new vehicle will be jointly produced by the National Authority for Military Production and a private sector car manufacturer.
News of the new vehicle resonate with a bright outlook, but I must warn that it all hinges on a plan to ensure a safe, efficient transition from tuk tuks to the new vehicles. It is no secret that huge numbers of young men depend for their livelihoods on driving tuk tuks; the invalidation and withdrawal of tuk tuks from the streets threaten their very sustenance. For years on end, subsequent governments had turned a blind eye to the tuk tuks illegally roaming the streets; the situation mushroomed till the tuk tuk became the main source of income for a huge mass of men and families. Now, any project to replace the tuk tuk should be preconditioned with securing the livelihoods of the tuk tuk drivers.
It is thus not right to hail the ambitious project of tuk tuk replacement without a clear vision of integrating those who worked on the traditional tuk tuk into the new project. The hundreds of thousands whose livelihoods currently depend on the tuk tuk would be left unemployed; threatening with a rise in crime rate. There must be a plan to train and qualify tuk tuk drivers, and motivate them to own and work on the new vehicles. Otherwise, the message reaching the masses would be that the government’s ambitious development plan tramples on humans.
A simple procedure, together with encouraging incentives, must be offered for tuk tuk owners to hand over their old vehicles at points specified by the government. These could then be exchanged for new vehicles, on condition that the drivers could acquire the training and licence to drive them. In addition, local governments should clearly delineate the boundaries within which the new vehicles are allowed to circulate. Past record with our runaway tuk tuk experience indicates that they had got so much out of control that, instead of keeping to the overcrowded areas they originally served, they spilled out onto main roads causing huge disruption of traffic.
As we are in the process of discussing the rectification of problems that had long been disregarded and left to fester, I think it is apt to bring to attention another problem long overlooked, that of the minivan. The minivan is a smaller version of the microbuses that roam Egypt’s streets, carrying passengers to various destinations for a fee. But whereas microbuses are licensed to transport passengers, minivans have been running the roads of Greater Cairo for years, licensed as private vehicles. In absence of due supervision and control, they went into the business of transporting passengers for a fee. Since minivans carry private vehicles’ plates, their drivers are not required to acquire occupational licensing for public transport. The result is the reckless driving that minivan drivers have become notorious for; the small size of the vehicle allows them to get away with violating all traffic rules. In absence of control, minivans have become time bombs that need official intervention and control. To say nothing of the de facto discrimination that places minivan drivers beyond the laws and regulations that govern other public transport drivers.
I really hope the government would work to rectify the longstanding problems of smaller scale public transport by ensuring a smooth transition from the tuk tuk to the vehicle that should replace it, and by implementing the correct licensing and operation of minivans.
Watani International
11 February 2022