Tok-toks have been banned from several Cairo neighourhoods, the spokesperson for Cairo's governor Khaled Mostafa told Ahram Online on Wednesday.
The ban includes the Cairo districts of Azbakeya, Abdeen, El-Moski, El-Wayli, Bab El-Shaeriya, Boulaq Abu El-Ela, and downtown Cairo.
Tok-toks create choas in traffic, road accidents that police cannot find culprits for, Mostafa said.
"The governorate had never licensed tok-toks in the first place."
“The streets of Cairo have had enough already. This ban today is an initial step that will expand in a couple of months [other areas] in Cairo, including Heliopolis and Al-Nozha,” he added.
The governorate will fine violators LE1,500 fine ($192), confiscate tok-toks until drivers provide ownership documents.
Repeat offenders will never see their tok-toks again, Mostafa said.
Most tok-tok drivers are unemployed youth who use the part-car, part-motorcycle vehicle as an informal means of work.
Owners currently buy the vehicle for about LE22,000 ($2800).
The prices of tok-toks have spiked since the government imposed in 2014 a one-year import ban on motorcycles and tok-toks, along with their manufacturing components.
Tok-toks are Chinese manufactured motorised tricycles with a driver's cabin. They have become popular around the country recent years because they provide cheap transportation for poorer citizens, as well as access in and out narrow alleyways.
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