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TECHNISHCE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN

ZENTRUM TECHNIK UND GESELLSCHAFT

BEREICH MOBILITÄT UND RAUM

General Research Concept for

Sustainable Mobility in El Gouna

Source: www.elgouna.com

Work group

Ahmed Khalil M.Sc. Amr Gouda M.Sc. Arman Fathejalali Mariam El-Sheikh Dipl.-Geogr. Norman Döge Dr.-Ing. Wulf-Holger Arndt

Written by

Ahmed Khalil M.Sc. Amr Gouda Mariam El-Sheikh

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General Research Concept for Sustainable Mobility in El Gouna

Study about the traffic situation traffic situation in El Gouna and about elements of possible research project to transportation concept for El Gouna

Authors

M.Sc. Amr Gouda

Mariam El-Sheikh

Ahmed Khalil

In collaboration with

Dr.-Ing. Wulf-Holger Arndt

Dipl.-Geogr. Norman Döge

M.Sc. Arman Fathejalali

Impressum

Editor

Dr.-Ing. Wulf-Holger Arndt Technische Universität Berlin Zentrum Technik und Gesellschaft Bereichsleiter „Mobilität und Raum“ Sek. HBS 1, Hardenbergstr. 16-18, 10623 Berlin

Tel.: +49 (0)30 314 - 25 230 Fax: +49 (0)30 314 – 26 917

wulf-holger.arndt@tu-berlin.de

http://www.ztg.tu-berlin.de

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Table of Contents 1. Background ........................................................................................................................ 4

1.1 Location ............................................................................................................................... 4

1.2 Demography ........................................................................................................................ 4

1.3 Environment ........................................................................................................................ 4

1.4 Economy .............................................................................................................................. 5

1.5 Land Use .............................................................................................................................. 6

2. Transportation .................................................................................................................... 6

2.1 Status Quo ........................................................................................................................... 6

2.1.1 Network .................................................................................................................. 6 2.1.2 Infrastructure .......................................................................................................... 7 2.1.3 Transportation Modes ............................................................................................ 8

2.2 Analysis of Transportation Quo Status .............................................................................. 10

2.2.1 Transportation Potentials in El Gouna: ................................................................. 10 2.2.2 Transportation Problems in El Gouna ................................................................... 11

3. Problem Statement ........................................................................................................... 13

4. Preliminary vision ............................................................................................................. 14

4.1 Carbon Reduction .............................................................................................................. 14

4.2 High Quality Living Conditions ........................................................................................... 14

4.3 Vibrant Tourism ................................................................................................................. 14

5. Suggested policies ............................................................................................................. 14

5.1 Implementation of Rickshaws ........................................................................................... 14

5.2 Implementation of Car-sharing ......................................................................................... 14

5.3 Implementation of Solar boats .......................................................................................... 15

5.4 Improvement of public transportation ............................................................................. 15

5.5 Improvement of active transportation .............................................................................. 15

5.6 Improvement of Safety ...................................................................................................... 15

5.7 Implementation of Electric Tuktuk .................................................................................... 16

5.8 Implementation of CNG .................................................................................................... 16

6. Workflow for a transportation concept ............................................................................. 17

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1. Background

1.1 Location

El Gouna started as a touristic resort, developed and owned by Orascom Hotels and Development (OHD), dating from about 1990. Through time, El Gouna is evolving to be more like a city which holds permanent residents beside the tourists. It is built on 10 km of the Red Sea coastline in Egypt, located in conveniently 25 kilometres north of the city of Hurghada, capital of the Red sea governorate. El Gouna’s geographic coordinates are Latitude 27°23′39″ N, Longitude 33°40′41″ E. It is around 4 hours flight from Europe’s major capitals and 1 hour from Cairo Air-Port.

1.2 Demography

The population of El Gouna according to Orascom Development statistics in 2008 is between 22,000 – 24,000 permanent residents and visitors from all over the

world1. They are living in different categories of residential and hotel units as El Gouna has 652 Villas and 1,489 Apartments villas while around 7,500 tourists annually.

Figure 1: El-Gouna

Source: www.elgouna.com

1.3 Environment

El Gouna has been recognized as Egypt's most environmentally friendly holiday apartment by Enhance estimation. It was chosen as the pilot destination for the Green Star Initiative, a partnership between the Group, the German consulting firm AGEG Consultants and the German Technical Cooperation. The city was also the pilot project for the Green Star Initiative in Africa and the Arab Region. In 2008, 11 of the 14 hotels were certified as Green Star hotels. Figure 1 shows the general style of development within El Gouna.

1 Source: http://www.orascomdh.com/en/projects/existing-projects/el-gouna.html

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1.4 Economy

El Gouna contains a wide range of facilities: a landing strip, a hospital, a nursing institute, 19 Hotels with (2,428 rooms) golf course, 419 outlets including restaurants, bars, shops, various services, a vibrant town centre three marinas, four schools, child day-care facilities, a library linked to Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and the Technical University of Berlin. The latter is operating since October 2012. The city comprises a total land area of 36.9 million square meters, from which 14.7 million square meters have been developed, thus providing a large land bank for future development.

El Gouna has other economic sectors, beside the tourism. Starting with the industrial sector; there are two factories in El Gouna: a wine factory, shown in figure 2, and a concrete factory. Additionally, there are fish and animal farms that produce organic products. Moreover, a recycling site, shown in figure 3, which lies in front of El Gouna and is managed by ERTEKAA (The Enhancement of Integrated Services and Waste Recycling Company) that was established in January 2008 as an Egyptian joint stock company.

Fig. 1 El Gouna wine factory

Source: http://footage.framepool.com/en/shot/447882364-winery-storage-tank-El Gouna-wine-production

Fig. 2 El Gouna recycling Site

Source: http://www.nomorelandfill.com/

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1.5 Land Use

There are three centralized areas in El Gouna, housing shops, bars and restaurants. There is the Downtown area; where most of the commercial facilities are found. Another area is Tamr Henna, which is mainly a pedestrian square full of outdoor cafes and restaurants. The third zone is the marina, which includes two marinas connected by sea, pedestrian platforms, gastronomy and several hotels.

Fig. 3 El Gouna land use plan

Source: www.elgouna.com

2. Transportation

2.1 Status Quo

2.1.1 Network

2.1.1.1 Public Networks

The motorized transport network is the main network in El Gouna that joins the different areas. Moreover, El Gouna has a bike network covering most of the areas, and there is also a good pedestrian network that is mostly founded as sidewalks and as pedestrian public squares/areas, e.g. Downtown and the Marina areas, where people can enjoy walking. These entire networks are supposed to connect El Gouna together as integrated zones.

2.1.1.2 Service Network

El Gouna, as a growing city, has construction activities around the year, which requires having a special network for those heavy trucks. That is why there is an already established service network dedicated for these trucks, as shown in figure 5.

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2.1.2 Infrastructure

Most of the main streets in El Gouna are paved streets, and few are unpaved in order to function as shared spaces. Additionally, street lightings are available within most of the streets.

Fig. 5 El Gouna road types

Data Source: Tecnhische Univeristat Berlin Campus El Gouna. Layout: Ahmed Khalil

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2.1.3 Transportation Modes

Transportation is the backbone of any modern society. As El Gouna represents a mix between touristic places and residential areas, it has various transportation modes:

There are 30 tuktuks - 2 companies run the tuktuks. The Yellow tuktuks prices (max 3 people) are 7 LE per person 15 L.E per two persons and 20 LE for the three persons and the multi-coloured tuktuks , shown in figure 6, prices are 7 LE per person. These prices cover any trip regardless of the distance. Drivers are mostly men aged between 15 and 20.

The taxis, shown in figure 7, which are 27 in El Gouna, cost around 20 LE per journey and are available either from the Marina or from the Downtown Bus station. Taxis can also be called by phone.

Shuttle boats, shown in figure 8, cost 5 LE per single journey per person and 20LE for a weekly ticket.

There are 34 bus/ferry, as in figures 9 and 10, and the bus services are regular (10-15mins) and there are 3 lines. It costs 5 LE for a day pass. The weekly pass is 20 LE.

Limousine service: This is what they call the mini cab service in El Gouna. Users pay different based on the type of the vehicle and destination. Destinations include places in El Gouna and Hurghada.

Ticketing systems: being a mix between touristic and residential places, the ticketing system in El Gouna has different categories for different users. For instance; students, workers and residents are charged less money than the tourists. Also daily, weekly, and monthly membership cards or tickets make are available and are cheaper option for regular users.

Fig. 7 El-Gouna taxis

Source: www.al-gouna.de/173/transportmittel-elgouna.html

Fig. 10 El-Gouna shuttle bus

Source: www.al-gouna.de/173/transportmittel-elgouna.html

Fig. 8 shuttle boats

Source: www.al-gouna.de/173/transportmittel-elgouna.html

Fig. 9 El-Gouna shuttle bus

Source: www.al-gouna.de/173/transportmittel-

elgouna.html

Fig. 6 El-Gouna tuktuk

Source: http://www.al-gouna.de/173/transportmittel-elgouna.html

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Figure11 maps showing shuttle buses route and stations in El Gouna

Data source: Tecnhische Univeristat Berlin Campus El Gouna.

Layout: Mohamed Ibrahim

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Table 1 transportation types in El Gouna

Vehicle Type Fuel type Number of Vehicle

Private car Petrol

Diesel

510

120

Tuktuk Petrol 30

Motorbike Petrol 54

Taxi Petrol 27

Bus Diesel 34

MinBus Petrol 81

Yachts Petrol

Diesel

175

20

Truck Diesel 13

Tractor Diesel 7

Pickup Truck Diesel 115

Total 1206

Source: TU Berlin El Gouna Campus, Interdisciplinary project winter 2014

2.2 Analysis of Transportation Quo Status

The listed transport potentials and problems in El Gouna were collected primarily through observations made during the winter semester of 2015 of TU-Berlin El Gouna Campus and the recurrent visits of our team members to El Gouna. Moreover, a literature review based on the published data on El Gouna website and several reports, and a preliminary map analysis were carried out.

2.2.1 Transportation Potentials in El Gouna:

Transportation sector in El Gouna has multiple potentials when compared to transportation norms in most of the Egyptian cities, which are reflected in its proclivity towards sustainable in general. These potentials represent opportunities that need to be emphasized and leveraged to realize a more sustainable transportation sector that preserves the environmental qualities of El Gouna. These opportunities include:

2.2.1.1 Bolstering Active Transportation Modes

El Gouna is one of the first cities in Egypt to have a network for bicycles and to advocate the use of bikes in general. The bike network includes marked lanes dedicated for bikes and shared spaces. Moreover, El Gouna applies a number of traffic calming techniques, including speed limitations and rough streets’ surfaces, in order to make the streets more safe and pleasant for the pedestrians, bikers and vulnerable groups in general. It also emphasises the concept of streets as public and gathering spaces for people rather a space dominated by cars. The relatively short distances between the different attractions encourage people to walk or use bikes through pleasant environment that encompass multiple elements from the natural environment. Finally elements of barrier freedom transportation are noticeable in some places in El Gouna including ramps for sidewalks at intersections and at building entrances.

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2.2.1.2 Integrative Transport Policies

The ticketing system in El Gouna is flexible as it includes tickets designed for different time intervals and takes in account the different user groups.

El Gouna is one of the first cities in Egypt to integrate the para-transit (taxis and tuktuks) in its transport system. Taxis can be ordered through telephone. The fairs of both taxis and tuktuks are controlled by a pricing system and are not left for the discretion of drivers.

2.2.1.3 Setting Standard for The Future Development

El Gouna’s mentality of sustainable development, environmental programs and grassroots environmental organization paved the way for several awards and ideas especially after being recognized officially as Egypt's most environmentally friendly holiday apartment; Greens, cycling, pedestrian and recycling.

2.2.2 Transportation Problems in El Gouna

El Gouna has multiple means of transportation. Generally, transportation problems can be classified into the below listed categories:

2.2.2.1 Network Gaps

The capacity of the street network appears to be suffecient for the current population and traffic amounts; still there are bottlenecks in some places with only one lane for cars. This creates congestions in the high season of tourism.

Despite the presence of service network, construction trucks still use the normal streets.

Regarding pedestrians, many streets do not have sidewalks, so pedestrians use the cars area although they are not designed as a shared space.

Lack of streets’ crossing points especially in streets that allow higher speeds.

Intersections and roundabouts are poorly planned which can result in multiple accidents due to visibility problems and absence of traffic calming techniques.

2.2.2.2 Insufficient Infrastructure

Streets Paved streets have no marked lanes and many suffer from poor maintenance

where shear and expansion cracks are noticeable.

Way finding through El Gouna is hard due to the general lack of signage pointing to near the destinations and the possible attractions.

Bike Lanes Although El Gouna is one of the first cities in Egypt to establish a network for

bicycles, the network suffers from multiple problems. To start with, it is sporadic and disjointed as it suddenly ends in several places for no specific reason. The lanes are too narrow at some places and sometimes they are only one way.

There are dedicated bike lanes at some parts but in other places, it is more like a shared space. However, the lack of traffic calming techniques at some of these shared spaces hinders the safety of bikers and heightens the probability of accidents and injuries

Parking There is an imbalance between the currently available parking spaces at El

Gouna centre (at “Best Way” supermarket and between the two marinas) and the number of cars due to the high car traffic within these areas compared to the rest of El Gouna. This imbalance is expected to increase if no action was

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taken to limit the usage of private cars with the expected increase in residents and tourists.

Places for bike storage appear to be very lacking, and when they exist, as within the university and the marina area, they are not shaded although El Gouna has a very hot weather for most of the year

Street Lighting Street lighting is not sufficient in several places, which decreases the sense of

security within El Gouna.

2.2.2.3 Lacking Streetscape and Furniture

Not enough signs indicating the directions, speed limits.

Shuttle stations need improvement in terms of shading, seating, lighting at night and addition of shuttle schedule.

2.2.2.4 Traffic Safety Problems

There is a general lax implementation of traffic regulations and specifically for tuktuks. As mentioned in the aforementioned parts, the safety of the diverse transport users appears to be hindered by multiple factors some related to street networks design and maintenance, active transport network problems, high speed within certain areas, and lack of sufficient lighting.

Fig. 12: A street in El Gouna

Source: research team

2.2.2.5 Inconsistent Barrier Freedom Measures

There are no dedicated parking spaces for handicaps in general. There are no slopes between sidewalks and streets at cross-sections. Ramps in general are very far away, if founded. Some streets have stones finishing for traffic calming reasons; still they appear to be too inconvenient and unfriendly especially for bicycles and wheel chairs.

2.2.2.6 Doubts Regarding Transport Affordability

The affordability of the different means of transport to the various groups needs to be investigated, especially that the prices of the different transport modes was recently increased, as they appear expensive when compared to the normal transport prices in Egypt.

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2.2.2.7 Lack of Traffic Regulation Enforcement (Policies)

There is a general lax implementation of traffic regulations and specifically for Tuktuks. As mentioned within the aforementioned parts the safety of the diverse transport users appears to be hindered by multiple factors some related to street networks design and maintenance, active transport network problems, high speed within certain areas, and lack of sufficient lighting

Fig. 13: An intersection in El Gouna

Source: research team

3. Problem Statement

El Gouna is a small city in terms of area and population; ergo traffic congestions, which is a chronic malaise in many Egyptian cities, only surfaces for few weeks within the year that coincides with the tourism high seasons. One of El Gouna’s salient transport problems is related to the safety due to the bad design of intersections, roundabouts, and lax implementation of traffic regulations, however this problem is downplayed by its current low population and thus low traffic volumes compared with its network capacity. Still acknowledging the foreseen increase in population; safety problems can aggravate and cause more accidents possible fatalities. Other than that El Gouna appear to have a combination of multiple small problems rather than one or two big problems to deal with.

Although El Gouna has multiple potentials that can support its trajectory towards sustainable mobility, for instance pedestrian friendly zones, bicycle network, organised transit, barrier free experiments and integrated para-transit. Still, every one of these potentials suffer from several problems, as explained before, due to the lack of a comprehensive vision for sustainable transport in general and the fact that many of these constituents were add-ons rather than planned for from the beginning. The add-on policy, which is not driven from a comprehensive plan for sustainable transport, makes the introduced items more expensive and less efficient on the short term and will have multiple repercussions on the long term as the population and the activities increase.

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4. Preliminary vision

A city with reduced carbon emissions, vibrant tourism and high quality of living conditions is our vision, upon which we intend to rest our transportation concept for El Gouna. This vision stems from El Gouna status as a touristic destination, a permanent residence for a growing population and an eco-friendly resort.

4.1 Carbon Reduction

Generally, Carbon accounting refers to “processes undertaken to measure the

amounts of carbon dioxide equivalents emitted by an entity”2. A more environmentally

friendly transport services will enable visitors and residents to travel to and around El Gouna while preserving its environment and pristine. Carbon reduction in the transportation sector of El Gouna is achievable through various measures, for instance the usage of electric and solar powered vehicles, improvement of the public transportations system, increasing the active transportation, switching to bio fuels or compressed natural gas (CNG) and the change of user behaviour.

4.2 High Quality Living Conditions

The main points in the high quality of living conditions are improving the safety and the efficiency of the transportation system. Different types of vehicles that serve everyone, connected networks in all categories; bike, pedestrian and cars, more designed and well-furnished streets, 100% barrier freedom that makes life easier for everyone and signs everywhere for better direction and accessibility are the first steps towards higher quality of living conditions for all the users in El Gouna.

4.3 Vibrant Tourism

In general, transportation is an integral part of the tourism industry, as improvement in transport modes made areas once considered as off-the-beaten-path accessible3. Providing sustainable, flexible, and attractive transport options for tourists in El Gouna is vital in order to maintain and increase its touristic influx, otherwise the prevalence of the unsustainable modes would degrade the various environmental assets found in El Gouna and jeopardise its status as an ecological touristic destination.

5. Suggested policies

5.1 Implementation of Rickshaws

The cycle rickshaw is a small-scale local means of transport that is attractive for people and especially for the tourists.

5.2 Implementation of Car-sharing

It is an attractive option for those who make only occasional use of a vehicle, as well as others who would like occasional access to vehicle of different types based on their need.

2 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_accounting 3 SORUPIA, E. 2005. Rethinking The Role Of Transportation In Tourism. Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for

Transportation Studies, Vol. 5, pp. 1767 - 1777,

Source:http://www.pedicabshop.com/shop/pedicab-rickshaws/

Fig. 14: Rickshaws

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5.3 Implementation of Solar boats

Tour in El Gouna lagoons is one of the most interesting experiences that many tourists are always willing to have, so it is an interesting and smart option for them to enjoy their tours in an environmental friendly vehicle like the solar boats that will save a lot of energy with less noise and air pollution consumption.

5.4 Improvement of public transportation

Improving the public transportation is one of the effective solutions that will immediately improve life in El Gouna. Increasing the attractive shuttle buses, bus stops in short distance, stations, ticketing systems and others.

5.5 Improvement of active transportation

More pedestrians and connecting bike lanes with an attractive view, facilities like public seats, lighting and greens and high level of safety and barrier freedom will also encourage more people to depend on active transportation in El Gouna.

5.6 Improvement of Safety

As mentioned before in the previous sections, there are many challenges regarding safety of some areas in El Gouna. By adapting simple measures in the intersections, roundabouts and shared spaces, visibility will be enhanced as well as the conditions for the walking and cycling environment. Some traffic calming measures can also be implemented in the areas that require slow modes of motorized transportation due to its shared nature.

Source:http://www.electric-boat-association.org.uk/solar-

boats.htm

Fig. 15: Solar boats

Source:http://www.theindependencecenter.org/blogs/independence-times/2014/2/27/city-seeks-non-motorized-advocates

Fig. 16: Active transportation

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5.7 Implementation of Electric Tuktuk

As the Tuktuk is one of the main means of transportation in El Gouna for many so it is very effective to change this carbon and noise consumer vehicles to being electric powered in order to help moving forward towards the sustainability and the carbon reduction theme.

5.8 Implementation of CNG

Egypt has the 16th largest reserve of natural gas in the world with 2.186 trillion m3

of the proven reserves and recent

discoveries’ places the number even higher4. It is therefore beneficial for Egypt to move away from crude oil based fuel towards natural gas. Only between 2012- 2014 there are 210.000 cars, 80 supply stations and 74 conversion centres in Egypt.

Also referring to the TU Berlin term project 2014, the CNG scenario, which could be applied in the Bus, Taxi and Tuktuk, cost will be 0.001LE/l that emits 0.0016 kgCO2eq/l. 5

4 data obtained from the website of the US Energy Information Admission 5 Ministry of Egypt, ecoscore.be Egas.com, cia.gov Egypt today, greenstarhub.com

Source: mosssolar.com, Star 8

Fig. 17: Electric tuktuk

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6. Workflow for a transportation concept

The proposed workflow can divided into 10 main work packages over the time interval of approximately 2 year as shown in fig. 18 and table 2. The project is estimated to start in December 2015 and end in November 2017. Each work package includes several tasks:

Fig. 18 gant chart for the project

Table 2 work packages, tasks & dates

Name Begin Date End Date Research Associates (PM) Students (PM)

WP 1: Preparation Phase December 1st 2015 January 29th 2016 1 -

A1- Preparing methodologies and documents

A2- Kick-off workshop to discuss goals, general approach, work flow, older concepts by Orascom in order to develop goals and vision for El Gouna transport system

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WP 2: Data collection December 15th 2015 September 30th 2016 3 4

A3- Analysis to existing documents including the existing AutoCAD and GIS analysis: quantity and quality of existing data bases

A4- Observation: Traffic counts for frequency and modal share

A5- Interviews with Orascom personnel, residents, tourists, business owners, employees, students and academics in order to collect data about traffic problems, traffic safety, user needs,

A7- Internet based and paper based questionnaire to find out travel behaviour patterns, transportation problems, users’ needs of different users groups as in interviews

A8- Surveys:

- location and condition of bike network and storage, pedestrian network - Streets’ widths, length and conditions - Location transport stations and lines - Parking spaces number and location - Location of shared spaces - Dangerous spots

WP 3: Data Modelling September 1st 2016 January 31st 2017 2 2

A9- Revision, updating and extension of GIS models out of gathered data and information regarding to:

- transport network, - Land-use and activities, - Socio-demographic data, - Infrastructure, - etc.

Deliverable 01: GIS Model of urban structure of El Gouna

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WP 4: Data Analysis December 1st 2016 February 28th 2016 3 2

A10- Analysis of the collected (GIS database, surveys, interviews, observations) to produce:

- Analysis of socio-demographic data and user needs - Land-use analysis - Network analysis: transport network analysis, connectivity analysis, walkability and cycling assessment, traffic safety, barrier freedom

and accessibility analysis,… - Public transport: modal share, catchment area of different transports, level of service, - Impact analysis: emissions and noise calculations, - Traffic safety analysis

Deliverable 02: Report that includes the status quo, SWOT analysis, possible solutions

WP 5: Revision of Goals & Vision

February 1st 2016 April 28th 2016 2 2

A11- Identify the different stakeholders, weights and representatives

A12- Invite different stake holders

A13- Organization of the workshop

A14- workshop for two days to inform the different stakeholders with the current status quo

- Feedback and discussion - Gap analysis - Revision of vision and goals - Establishing on going communication (website, group, newsletter)

Deliverable 03: Report that summarizes the workshop outputs

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WP 6: Developing Strategies May 1st 2016 July 31st 2017 1 1

A15- Discussion goals and objectives

A16- Developing short, medium, long term strategies for traffic safety, public transport, barrier-free mobility, active modes, MIT, para-transit, etc..

WP7: Developing Measures August 1st 2017 September 29th 2017 2 1

A17- Developing measures

- Soft and hard measures - Push and pull - Bundling strategies and measures

WP8: Transport Concept Report October 2nd 2017 November 30th 2017 2 1

A18- developing the transportation concept for El Gouna

Deliverable 04: final report and maps for the developed transportation concept of El Gouna

WP 9: Extra Packages

A19- Feasibility study

A20- Implementation follow up