Transport companies’ budget derailed
The Athens-Kifissia electric railway (ISAP) is also piling up losses, as are the other bodies of public transport in Athens, according to 2009 data. The combined total deficit for ISAP, bus company ETHEL, trolley buses ILPAP, Tram SA, Attiko Metro and umbrella Athens transport organization OASA was 580 million euros last year. The situation worsened this year for all the above, as last week’s work stoppage by unpaid bus employees showed. These companies have used in the first five months of 2010 over two-thirds of the finances earmarked for the entire year for Athens’s public transport. The Finance Ministry has accused the Infrastructure Ministry of being unable to force transport bodies to cut costs.
