"The penalty applies to those who remain in metro stations for more than two hours after validating their tickets," the Cairo Metro said in a statement.

However, the statement clarified that unused tickets have no expiry date, which means they can be used anytime.

This clarification came in response to reports saying that the two-hour limit starts from the time of purchase and that passengers will no longer be able to buy more than one ticket at once.

Metro passengers, especially employees, are accustomed to buying multiple tickets to avoid overcrowding at ticket sale windows.

The Cairo Metro has published a list of fines, including the overstaying one, on its Facebook page in Arabic and English to inform passengers of the metro lines' usage instructions.

However, it did not clarify the reason behind this overstaying fine reminder.

Nevertheless, social media users speculate that it may be due to the increasing number of street vendors selling their products inside trains and metro stations.

The maximum duration of metro trips will be as follows:

- Line 1 (New Marg – Helwan): 105 mins,

- Line 2 (Shobra El-Khema – El-Monib): 60 mins,

- Line 3 (Rod El-Farag – Adly Mansour): 71 mins.

The Cairo Metro transports over 3.5 million passengers daily through three lines that cover Egypt's largest metropolitan area.