French experts help Greece in traffic management for 2004
French public transport officials who helped organize the soccer World Cup four years ago will share their experience with Greek experts preparing Athens for the 2004 Olympics, the French Embassy said yesterday. Greek authorities have been trying to overhaul Athens’s public transport system over the past few years in an attempt to free up the city’s clogged streets. The city’s first metro system opened in 2000, a system of bus lanes is being expanded throughout the capital, and a tram and suburban railway are being constructed. France, which hosted the soccer World Cup in 1998, will be able to brief Athens on how public transport infrastructure can be adapted efficiently during the hosting of major sporting events, said Efi Papadaki-Frager, France’s commercial attache in Athens. French public transport officials – including from the public transport authority known as RATP and the railway operator SNCF – will attend a one-day conference in Athens next week to discuss French experience in public transport. «France will present the organization of public transport during the soccer World Cup, knowing that what interests Greece is the organization of the Olympic Games in 2004,» Papadaki-Frager said. After an inspection visit by the International Olympic Committee to Athens earlier this month, IOC executive Denis Oswald said the city’s transport would be «a concern till the end.» But he did express «overall satisfaction» with transportation projects to ease the traffic crunch in Athens, a city of nearly 5 million people and 2 million cars where a rush-hour trip of 10 kilometers (6 miles) can take up to an hour. «On the occasion of the Olympic Games, both the transport authorities and the simple citizen find themselves before a dead end,» said Ioannis Maniatis, president of the public transport organization. «Either we will change the way this city works as a whole, particularly in transportation issues, or there is no future for this city,» he said. Greek authorities aim to increase the number of people using public transport to 42 percent over the next few years, compared to 21 percent today, Maniatis said. «We believe that by the end of 2003, we will be fully modernized so that Greece can host the Olympics in 2004,» he added. But the traffic problem could get worst before it improves. Construction sites for the tram and for several road interchanges are causing traffic jams throughout the city. Public Works Minister Vasso Papandreou yesterday appealed for motorists to have patience until the projects are completed. «The public must understand that they must think before leaving their homes, and do so only if it is necessary,» Papandreou said.
