Overview

The third meeting of the Public Transport Organisation & Policy working group was hosted by Athens Public Transport Organisation. Public transport has considerably evolved in Athens in recent years, both in terms of organization and infrastructure. The host of the meeting, Nellie Tzivelou, provided some insights into these recent changes and guided the group for an extensive visit of the network.

1. Organisation of public transport in Athens

Established in 1993, Athens Public Transport Organisation (OASA) is the public transport authority for the greater Athens area (metropolitan area of Athens). It is a private law organisation, totally owned by the Greek State, under the supervision and control of the Ministry of Transport & Communications.

OASA is responsible for the planning, co-ordination and control of all public transport modes in the greater Athens area: thermal buses, trolley buses, and metro. OASA assigns the operation and exploitation of transport service to its affiliated organizations. In that respect, the organization of public transport in Athens is an interesting example of progressive integration of public transport. OASA currently has three affiliated companies which are responsible for the delivery of transport services:

- the thermal bus operator (ETHEL), which was established in 1994 as an affiliated company of OASA;

- the trolley-bus operator (ILPAP), established in 1970, is a public corporation belonging to the Greek State which has been affiliated to OASA in 1998;

- the operator of metro lien 1 (ISAP), established in 1976, which has been an affiliated company of OASA since 1998.

The operator of the new metro lines (AMEL) is currently affiliated to its owner Attiko Metro SA. It is planned that AMEL will merge with ISAP within a few years and will thus be supervised by OASA to the same extent as the other operators above.

OASA planning responsibilities are in the process of extending to the tram, the suburban buses, and the suburban railways.

Considering the organization of public transport in more detail, public transport in Athens operates under an authority initiative regime, meaning that the right of initiative to create public transport services is reserved to the organising authority. OASA, which has business contract agreements with its affiliated operators, does not only set the rules for the operators, but also defines the scheduling, monitors the results and covers the financial deficits. Also is responsible for the definition of service, quality management, fares & ticketing, information & promotion, etc.

2. Current planning priorities

A set of short & medium term transport measures where announced by the Minister of Transport after the Olympic Games, in October 2004. These measures aim to incorporate the Olympics legacy and to capitalize on lessons learned during the Games.

The strategic objectives of these new measures include:

• the integration of the different transport modes in the Attika region (cf. above);
• the increase of the modal share of public transport;
• the reduction of the use of the private car;
• the development of emergency procedures;
• public transport service improvements, including in particular:
    - the introduction of a single fare ticket (90 min);
   - the extension of the bus lane network;
   - new express lines;
   - and the restructuring of the bus network.

In this framework, a number of priority measures are in process of besing implemented:

• the extension of the existing and the development of new bus lanes;
• police enforcement of priority measures, notably through the purchase of towing vehicles and installation of monitoring cameras;
• roadside parking control measures in the central business district;
• the introduction of peak hour restrictions for truck deliveries.

3. A picture of the urban public transport network

The visit along of the network showed the recent developments of the system, implemented notably in prevision of the Olympic games.

The bus network is made of 311 bus lines, for a total network length of about 7.000 km. The 2.000 buses in operation make a total of about 16.000 trips per day. On the demand side, the daily traffic is of 1.300.000 passengers.

In comparison, the trolley bus network has 22 lines, for a total network length of about 360 km. A total of 2.500 daily trips are made by a fleet of about 366 trolley buses. The passenger traffic is of about 300.000 passengers per day.

As far as the metro is concerned, there are three lines in total: the initial line 1 and the new lines 2 and 3. There currently are 45 stations for a total network length of about 50 kilometres. The peak hour interval is of 2,5 min. on line 1, and 3 min. on lines 2 and 3. On the demand side, there are about one million passengers per day. The map of the metro network is provided below.