Maximizing Passenger Capacity and Socio- Economic Impact of Greater Cairo Underground Metro (GCUM)

Abstract

As the Greater Cairo Underground Metro Network (GCUMN) could be considered the main mode of public transport, it is necessary to thoroughly study the factors affecting operation, Taking into consideration the passengers' attitude and behavior to realize the best performance ensuring more passengers comfort and safety with lowest costs. There are many difficulties faced by the Greater Cairo Underground Metro, this thesis aims to define, analyze and propose methodologies for making scientific recommendations to solve them.

These problems can be summarized as follows: 1- Metro revenues hardly cover operating costs 2- (LOS) is low due to varying demand/supply where, at peak hours, demand exceeds supply with overcrowded passengers while supply exceeds demand during off-peak hours. 3- The actual headway does not comply with the required one, as the passenger's density is more than the standard at peak hour, while it is lower than the standard at off-peak. 4- Despite the metro passengers about 3.0 million passenger/day there is no increasing or adding new gates, ticket window, ...etc 5- No frequent monitoring and review to assess the effect of the return/cost strategy on the passenger ticket segments on the real level of demand.

The objective of this thesis is: 1- Evaluating the operation of GCUM and its capacity for transportation demand. 2- Study the supply/demand ratio for passengers on metro lines and stations, and then develop innovative methods to reach the best operation of the metro. 3- Proposing suitable economic and technical solutions to improve metro traffic efficiency and achieve an acceptable level of service for metro passengers.

To achieve these objectives, the thesis began discussing, studying, and analyzing some national and international researches, that were exposed to such a topic. This is followed by data collected from the current three working lines. The methodology steps are: