The largest fleet renewal of buses that has taken place in Athens’ urban transport system in recent decades is now complete.
In the next few months, the latest new vehicles that are in the trial route phase, according to the deputy transport minister Konstantinos Kyranakis.
With the addition of another 205 new buses, the number of new vehicles in service or directly on the road is 1,076 while the fleet renewal approaches 80%.These are 125 electric buses, 13 IVECO gas buses and 67 new CNG Menarini buses, which are added to the 871 new vehicles already serving passengers on a daily basis.
As Mr Kyranakis pointed out,in 2019 the newest bus in the fleet was about ten years old,while the majority of the vehicles were built in 1999. Today, more than a third of the new buses are electric, another third are gas-powered and the remainder are modern diesel-powered vehicles with new technology.
Tackling the driver problem
Fleet renewal is combined with strengthening the workforce. A new call for drivers is already in progress, and for the first time, candidates without a professional driving licence will be given the opportunity to participate. The new drivers will be trained free of charge at the PSU driver school, with the aim of staffing the system faster and meeting increased demand.
The ministry’s target is that by the end of 2026 the key lines in the network will have improved their frequency by up to 50%. Already, on several lines, waiting times have been reduced significantly, from around 18 minutes last year to between 8 and 9 minutes today, with problems of course remaining on other parts of the network. At the same time, the total number of drivers is expected to reach 3,000.
The strengthening of the fleet will continue in the coming years. By 2028 it is planned to add another 617 new vehicles through European and national financial instruments, leading to an active urban transport fleet of more than 2,000 vehicles, of which about 1,700 will be new.
