Application of planning standards for land uses of schools and educational facilities to reduce educational mobility as means to reduce traffic congestion in Cairo

Greater Cairo and other capitals of the Egyptian governorates and major cities suffer from traffic congestion, despite the tangible efforts of the state in opening new road axes, expanding and developing the existing road network. The traffic congestion in Cairo costs the Egyptian economy 3.6% of the gross national product (According to the report of the World Bank Group), which represents a large and remarkable percentage.
The traffic congestion in Greater Cairo had resulted from several factors, including misdistribution of land uses for services and the changes and modifications that were applied later, including educational services, as well as the expansion and great diversity of educational programs for international and foreign private schools. Such schools differ in terms of education quality from traditional schools, as well as the diversity in school activities and the financial level of students. The afore factors have created a large gap compared to education in public schools and also a desire among parents to enrol their children in distinguished schools despite their distance from their residence areas. This concept has led to increasing the service scope of those schools where it could be more than 40 km, which contributed in increasing traffic density on roads as a result of various means of transportation.
Using means of transportation other than school buses to transport students had reduced safety and reliability factors and increased traffic density on those roads. School transport represents a large proportion of traffic trips on the main and secondary roads in Greater Cairo.  This coincides with the morning rush hours and evening traffic on the roads, which contributes to increasing congestion rates during peak hours. By adjusting the distribution of educational services locations, defining their ranges, changing study dates, expanding distance education, and facilitating school bus rides for parents, it is possible to reduce traffic congestion rates on the Greater Cairo roads.