Are Cairo’s menacing minibuses on their way out?

WEAVING IN AND out of traffic, the minibuses on Cairo’s ring road seem to be racing. In a sense, they are. The white minivans compete to pick up passengers and faster trips mean more fares. Since a ride costs as little as five Egyptian pounds ($0.32), quantity is key. So drivers speed along the motorway, exploiting every little gap in the traffic. Some are intoxicated by tramadol, an opioid that has a reputation for improving alertness (and male sexual stamina), two claims your correspondent preferred not to test.The privately run minibuses are a fixture in the capital. But locals do not exactly like them. Start with the erratic drivers, who contribute to the city’s dreadful record on road safety. Traffic in Cairo, already a nightmare, is made worse when they stop to pick up and offload passengers. The vans, which run on cheap diesel, belch noxious fumes into the air. For the government they are an embarrassment, a loud reminder of its failure to provide adequate public transport in greater Cairo, home to about 20m people.