As streets narrow, parking fines and tow trucks will help traffic flow
As construction projects aimed at improving traffic conditions in time for the Athens 2004 Olympics intensify, causing worse traffic jams in the meantime, government officials and the head of the Olympic organizers met on Monday in an effort to work out measures aimed at easing the drivers’ woes. Among the ideas presented were: Coordinating traffic lights in order to take into account the new conditions caused by construction work; greater support for mass transportation systems; increasing the length of bus lanes; and, above all, creating disincentives for people to use their cars. The latter is to be achieved by intensifying police action against anyone breaking the law, with stiff fines and tow-trucks waiting for those who park illegally. If these measures do not turn out to be sufficient, the government will take additional ones. The Public Order Ministry will, therefore, be called on to undertake the greatest burden in this partial effort to solve the daily traffic problems of millions of drivers. Among those present at Monday’s meeting were Interior Minister Costas Skandalidis, Public Works Minister Vasso Papandreou, Public Order Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis, Transport Minister Christos Verelis and Athens 2004 head Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki. Public Works Minister Vasso Papandreou last week acknowledged that things are going to get worse soon (especially with major construction work at the Faros and Aghia Varvara junctions on Kifissias Avenue starting within days) and she called on drivers to show patience for the next two years. Monday’s meeting of the interministerial committee, which was called by Prime Minister Costas Simitis, was the first attempt to coordinate efforts to solve this massive problem. Its conclusion was to note the obvious, the need to strictly apply the rules of the traffic code (in dealing with illegal parking, entry to bus lanes, and so on) which will be achieved through more policing. The latter includes more cameras monitoring bus lanes as well as a greater police presence on the streets. It is worth remembering that a fine for an illegally parked vehicle comes to 61.5 euros, for double parking it is 32.5 euros, while the cost of driving in a bus lane will cost the offender 78 euros. The public works minister said that the committee was considering a number of other measures, such as increasing bus lanes, updating the coordination of traffic lights, rescheduling the measure for staggered work hours and the hours that shops are allowed to take deliveries, strategic cooperation between the traffic police and municipal police (especially in dealing with illegal parking, which implies a deluge of fines), offering alternative routes to car drivers, increasing the number of services available via telephone and increasing the possibilities for people to do business electronically (such as Internet banking). Transport Minister Verelis said that more bus lanes were necessary in order to speed up public transport, making it more attractive to Athenians. He said that, so far, 16 kilometers (10 miles) of bus lanes were in operation, while another 5 kilometers were being readied and a further 10 kilometers were planned. His ministry, he said, aimed at a total of 45 kilometers (28 miles) of bus lanes by the end of 2003. Papandreou noted that these measures, or any others that will be taken, did not mean that the traffic problems had been solved. Speaking on Athens’s Alpha radio yesterday, Papandreou said, «Don’t expect – with this number of cars, with people preferring private cars over public transport, with the way the city functions and with everyone having to go to the center to get things done – that the traffic situation will be solved fully. But it is a fact that the situation will improve.» Papandreou noted that by 2004 a number of major infrastructure works will have been completed, including extensions to the Metro, the suburban railway, Attiki Odos and other highways, including the Hymettus ring road. «People will not all need to drive through the center to get somewhere,» she said. She revealed that among the issues that were discussed on Monday was the possibility of offering bonuses to civil servants who used public transport.
