NEWS

Price hikes for transport tickets put off

A planned 25 percent increase in the price of public transport tickets next March is to be postponed until October, the general secretary of the Development Ministry, Nikos Stathopoulos, said on Tuesday.

“We managed to postpone the increase until October, from March, and we hope to eventually be able to avert the measure,” Stathopoulos said, attributing the change of plan to a crackdown on fare dodging on public transport.

Sources told Kathimerini last month that the campaign has contributed to a 9 percent increase in ticket purchases, bringing in nearly 300,000 euros in revenue in just three weeks.

The increase originally demanded by the troika would have pushed the price of a ticket for all modes of public transport to 1.75 euros from 1.40.

The ministry is also planning to change the regulations relating to weekly, monthly and annual travelcards to allow commuters to be reimbursed for strike days when transport services do not operate. Earlier this week, the Athens Urban Transport Organization (OASA) said it was not obliged to compensate travelcard holders who were unable to use public transport last week because of a series of strikes by employees.

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