Buses
Cairo's buses are battered, exhaust-spewing workhorses, active from 5.30am to 12.30am daily (6.30am-6.30pm & 7.30pm-2am during Ramadan). Fares are cheap enough to be affordable by everyone, so buses are usually full, and overflow during the 7-10am and 4-7pm rush hours, when passengers hang from doorways or each other and clamber in and out through windows. Though many foreigners are deterred from using buses by the risk of pickpockets and gropers, there's no denying that the network reaches virtually everywhere. Buses are painted blue-and-white or red-and-white (the former being slightly more comfortable and more expensive), with route numbers in Arabic on the front, side and back. Those with slashed numbers (for example, #13/) may follow different routes from buses with the same number unslashed. Aside from the numbered bays on Midan Tahrir, few stops are clearly signposted (look for metal shelters, plaques on lampposts or crowds waiting), and buses generally slow down instead of halting, compelling passengers to board and disembark on the run. Except at terminals, you must enter through the rear door (which is often removed to facilitate access); at official stops, you're supposed to exit from the front. Conductors sell tickets (the flat fare on most routes is 25pt, or 50pt on longer routes) from behind a crush-bar by the rear door. The front of the bus is usually less crowded, so it's worth squeezing your way forwards; start edging towards the exit well before your destination. New blue-and-white A/C buses are now being introduced on some routes for those who want to travel in comfort and avoid the crowds (flat fare GBPE2). At the moment, they serve only prosperous suburbs such as Heliopolis and Medinet Nasr and tourist sites like the Pyramids, but other routes will be added. Most buses start from (or pass through) at least one of the city-centre terminals at Midan Tahrir, Abdel Mouneem Riyad (behind the Antiquities Museum), Midan Falaki (east of Tahrir), Midan Ramses and Midan Ataba. Write the number(s) in Arabic to show to enquiry booths or bystanders, who'll point you towards the right lane. At each of these locations, there are several bus stops, and where exactly you pick up your bus will depend on which direction it is going in, and whether it starts at the terminal or is simply passing through. In particular, note that there are two separate bus stations at Midan Ataba (one in the northern corner of the square on Sharia Clot Bey, the other in Ezbekiya Gardens opposite the Puppet Theatre) and at Abdel Mouneem Riyad (one behind the Antiquities Museum, the other right by the river). If possible, ask the conductor " Rayih ?? " (are you going to ??) to make sure. At the time of writing, Midan Tahrir was being redeveloped and its future seems uncertain; if the buses listed under Midan Tahrir do move to another terminal in the next year or two, they will almost certainly leave from Abdel Mouneem Riyad.
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