Cairo is a city known for its traffic congestions, multi-overpasses and noise and air pollution. But despite the fact that cars fill the space and smog fills the air in Cairo, a traditional cargo cycling scene still thrives in the inner-city streets. If you an early bird, you can start watching the bread cyclists of Cairo at 6:00 AM roaming the streets skilfully on old bicycles with a big board (or more) loaded with Eish Balady (Egyptian bread).
Those are the bread heroes who keep the bread accessible, cheap and hot. Subsidised bread is a big issue in Egypt be it the backbone of every Egyptian food table. It’s only sold through specific outlets during the working hours. So the bread delivery cyclists have a big market of employees who can’t go shopping during these hours or those who wouldn’t stand in a long line before they can buy their, 5 piasters worth, loaf (0.01 € can buy 5 loaves of subsidized bread). So these delivery men work on tip-based daily wage keeping the costs of their commute at the minimum level and transporting as many loaves as they can per trip.
To a fresh eye, the bread cyclists are very photogenic. They have attracted many photographers and filmmakers to document their story. The short film bike for bread by Dir. Claude MARTHALER and Raphael JOCHAUD were screened in bike film festival 2016. Here is a clip from the short film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl8Iti0iNCY
and another documentation of a French filmmaker follows a bread cyclist through the streets of Cairo
Tabdeel تبــــــــــــديل 