No dogs, birds or fridges: Cairo bans pet peeves from metro

If for some inexplicable reason you find yourself in a Cairo street with a canary, a fridge-freezer and a metro ticket, beware.

The company that runs Cairo's underground train network – one of a handful of such systems in the Middle East – released a graphic on Wednesday night listing 16 separate items it has banned.

Perhaps reasonably, the list includes all weapons, flammable liquids and gas canisters but extends to suitcases, animals including dogs and birds, TVs and large kitchen appliances.

Handbags will be permitted but only after strict searches are carried out.

Passengers who violate these rules will be subject to an on-the-spot fine of between 15 and 100 Egyptian pounds ($1.90 and $12.70).

The company, run by the Egyptian state, says it has fixed posters warning passengers of the new rules in each station and next to X-ray scanners at station entrances.

The X-ray machines were first installed last July as part of extra security measures.

The installation came as authorities reopened Cairo’s main central station, Sadat, which lies beneath the city’s iconic Tahrir Square and had been shut down for almost two years since a wave of unrest following the violent dispersal of sit-ins at two pro-Morsi camps in August 2013.

Cairo’s metro system has been subject to attack on several occasions, with 16 people injured in November 2014 in a crush that followed the explosion of a home-made bomb.

Cairo’s metro stirred anger from passengers earlier this week, when the transport minister announced that the price of a single fare would double to two Egyptian pounds ($0.25).

Haytham al-Hariri, an MP with the liberal Constitution Party, told parliament on Thursday that he rejects the price rise, accusing the government of forcing “simple citizens to foot the bill for state policies that are incompatible with the suffering of Egyptians”.

The company’s announcement of the new banned items on Wednesday did not explain why they had taken the decision, but some disgruntled passengers on Twitter suggested that the fines had been introduced as a way to generate extra income.

Translation: The decision to fine people 100 EGP for carrying a suitcase or an animal is completely random – there’s no other system in the world like this. It is illogical

Translation: The Cairo Metro is looking for any way to make some money out of thin air, so it’s punishing its users with this stupid decision.