Frequency boost for metro services to curb crowding
Services on the capital’s metro system will as of Monday be increased as part of efforts to avoid overcrowding on public transport, the managing director of Athens Urban Transport Organization (OASA), Nikos Athanasopoulos, told Kathimerini on Sunday.
Services on Line 1 will be every six minutes, and on Line 2 every 4.5 minutes (as last year), while on Line 3 metro trains will travel four minutes apart (from 4.5 last year). Athanasopoulos said the tender process launched by the Infrastructure Ministry for the refurbishment of 14 trains on Line 1 – at a cost of almost 75 million euros – is under way. The first refurbished trains will be rolled out by the end of 2022.
Despite the brutal impact of Covid-19 on public transport finances, estimated at 70 million euros between March and August, he said authorities were making efforts to improve services, including bolstering the capital’s aging bus fleet.
