Access to public transport with your wheels
Throughout Europe metro systems do what they can to make life easier for passengers and cyclists. They allow bikes at times when the trains are not overcrowded. The old and overcrowded systems in Paris and London (built in the 19th century) are the only exception. After two years of lobbying, the Athens metro continues to say no. Bikes are not even allowed in stations where the electric railway meets the metro. The stations are spacious with numerous levels, as in the case of the large stations in Europe that connect trains for destinations throughout the continent. The metro has been promising to find a solution since March and argues that the ban is due to safety concerns. If the presence of bikes poses a danger to passengers on the platform then the safety officers of European underground systems would have been aware of this. Indeed the refusal of Attiko Metro to accept bikes puts the lives of cyclists at risk as they are forced to cycle in hazardous conditions on the city’s streets. If the strategy of the Athens metro is to make their trains overcrowded, as was the case in August when the number of trains running was reduced, then they will not have just unsatisfied bikers. In Athens bikes are allowed: On the electric railway (ISAP) all day at the weekend and on holidays, and other days all hours except 6.15-9.30 a.m. and 12-6.30 p.m.; on the tram and Proastiakos every day and at all times.
