In pics: Tuk-Tuk violating ban decision got hanged in El-Shorouk City

CAIRO – 9 June 2021: A tuk-tuk was seen hanging outside the Al-Shorouk City Authority office as an official explains that the move will be the “deterrent punishment” for those who violate the law banning the tricycle vehicles in the city.  

Head of Al-Shorouk City Authority Abdel Latif Bishara stated that the hanging of the vehicle is “a strong message to anyone who attempts to drive tuk-tuks inside the city against the decision.”

Bishara added that the violating vehicles are also confiscated.

In 2019, the Ministry of Local Development halted issuing licenses for the three-wheeled tuk-tuks (also known as auto rickshaw), in an effort to replace them with safer minivans that use natural gas.

Being unsafe and unlicensed, tuk-tuks were banned as a means of transportation as per a government decree.

The government will buy the tuk-tuks from their owners and give them minivans in return, while the owners will pay the price difference of two vehicles in soft loans. The old and withdrawn tuk-tuks will turn into junk, he said, adding that the cabinet will hold a meeting with representatives of tuk-tuk assembling factors to change manufacturing lines for minivans production.

The Egyptian government, chaired by Moustafa Madbouli, ordered tuk-tuk assembling factors to not produce auto rickshaws anymore.

In March 2018, the state-owned Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CPAMS) said that the number of licensed tuk tuks in Egypt in the period between 2014 and 2016 reached 99,000 tuk-tuks, noting that the number is increasing. Meanwhile, the number of unlicensed tuk-tuks reached more than 3 million rickshaws.

A tuk-tuk (also known as auto rickshaw) is a common form of urban transportation. It is a development of the still available two-wheeled pulled rickshaw by which a runner draws a cart with a seat for one or two people. It is believed the pulled rickshaw was invented by Japan in the 19th century. Rickshaws then appeared in India, China and other big cities in Asia.