Trolley bus death prompts inspection system rethink
Officials are mulling changes to the ticket verification system across the capital’s transport network following the death of a teenage passenger on a trolley bus during a ticket inspection in western Athens earlier this month.
Inspectors currently receive a commission on the fines they hand out, which, passengers complain, has repeatedly resulted in overzealous behavior.
Speaking to Kathimerini, Costas Nikolakopoulos, a member of the trolley bus workers’union, admitted that inspectors often cross the line while hunting down fare dodgers.
“However, passengers are often very aggressive toward them,” he added.
Most experts agree on the need to reduce the presence of inspectors and promote the use of electronic smart cards. However, efforts to install some form of automatic system have been stalled by a series of annulled tenders for more than a decade.
