Cairo - Mubasher: Khaled Sabra, managing director of The Egyptian Company for Metro said that the company was planning to re-price metro tickets.

The new prices will take place after the new gates are installed, Sabra said in a press statement, noting that most of these gates have already arrived to Egypt.

The company’s trend now is to divide ticket prices based on the number of the stations travelled, so as to be fairer, the top official said, indicating that it was illogical to have the same price for different distances.

 The minimum price will be EGP 2 per eight stops, EGP 3 per 8 to 12 stops, and EGP 4 or 5 for more than 12 stops.

Egypt's minister of transportation Hesham Arafat previously stated that metro ticket price increases were due to high fuel prices, the company’s debt, and the renovation projects carried out across the metro three lines.

Operating using a ‘touch system’ the new gates are meant to prevent passengers from dodging the payment of the required ticket price.

Ticket prices were doubled in March to EGP 2 instead of EGP 1. It is expected that the new prices will be imposed by the end of 2018.

With around 64 service stations, the Cairo Metro transports about 3.5 million passengers a day.