Urban transport group in a fever of activity to improve bus routes for Olympics
New bus lines, dozens of special lanes, and services on a 24-hour basis are part of the urban transport organization (OASA)’s plans to make it easier to get around Athens during the Olympic Games. Presenting OASA’s proposal yesterday during a conference titled «Cars, the Environment and the Economy,» its president, Yiannis Maniatis, said that the bus company (ETHEL) would aim to double the current average speed (12.5km per hour) at which buses travel in the city by adding 45 kilometers of bus lanes (28 miles), as the present 16 kilometers have proved woefully inadequate even for current requirements, let alone for an influx of Olympic proportions when the number of passengers will more than double. «When the bus lanes are extended, then with almost no investment we will be able to give commuters an additional 900 bus schedules (at the moment there are 19,000) while another 9,000 schedules will be vastly improved. All we need now is approval from the Public Works Ministry,» he said. There will also be 17 new «Olympic» bus routes, seven of which will be operating around the clock, serving the Olympic Stadium (OAKA), the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Faliron, and Olympic venues in Goudi, Galatsi, Hellenikon, Aghios Cosmas and Nikaia. Another 23 routes to these areas will be boosted, and 570 buses will be sited at all venues to serve local requirements. Another 100 will be on standby, not to mention the 40 buses that will be at the «Park and Ride» stations. Buses will have the right of way on all main city roads throughout the Games. ETHEL estimates that during the Games, 55 percent of morning passengers on public transport will travel by bus or trolley bus, and another 41 percent on the metro, the old Kifissia-Piraeus (ISAP) line, tram or suburban rail. «Most Athenians (54 percent) travel by car; only 31 percent use public transport. Of the latter, 56 percent use buses, 17 percent the metro, 16 percent ISAP and 11 percent trolley buses,» said Maniatis, adding: «However, conditions for vehicles moving through the city are worsening by the day. In 1985, the average bus speed was 22 kilometers per hour. In 1989 it was down to 20, but it is now as low as 12.5 kilometers per hour.»
