ΟΑΣΑ←ΚΤΕΛ

1. COVID-19

In late 2020, 60 suburban routes around Athens were awarded to private companies without tender. The general contractor became ΚΤΕΛ Αττικής, a company that previously operated only intercity and tourist routes, while other ΚΤΕΛ's from nearby regions with the same business were subcontracted. So, for the first time, ΚΤΕΛ Αττικής operated 109 buses (12 standart, 30 artic. и 4 midi), ΚΤΕΛ Κορινθίας — 60 (standart), ΚΤΕΛ Εύβοιας — 18 (16 standart, 2 midi) и ΚΤΕΛ Θήβας — 13 (standart).

The official reason for the change of operator from the state-owned Athens Transport Company ΟΣΥ was the difficult situation due to the COVID-19 and the necessity to intensify transport work on the central city lines. In fact, the company has a catastrophic situation due to the lack of vehicles and staff. The average age of ΟΣΥ buses reached 18.8 years for diesel and 16 for CNG, and the daily shortage on the 258 routes served was more than 100 vehicles (>10%). Since 2010, not a single bus has been bought, with the planned delivery of new buses in 2019 canceled by the government.

During the changes, it was said that this was a temporary solution and only until the arrival of new buses sometime after 2022. Nothing was supposed to change for passengers: the buses were also required to operate in the livery of the state “transport authority” ΟΑΣΑ, accepting general tickets and operating on the same schedules.

To serve these routes, 293 used buses were “dry leased” (i.e. only vehicles without any staff), namely from companies:

Leasing was for 3 years with the right to buy out afterwards, and each bus cost €2500 - €2800 per month. Even though there were problems with the state and a procurement block from the Court of Auditors due to the non-sliding windows, the buses were still put into service in 2021.

2. Contracts

At the time of the first contract, the financial statements of ΚΤΕΛ Ατττικής already showed debts exceeding the company's budget by €3 million, and in the following years the economic situation only got worse. Due to the terrible technical condition of the used buses, most of which were more than 10 years old, the lack of maintenance and financial resources to pay for everything, many routes were cut or not operated at all.

Despite these problems, the direct contract expiring in 2022 was tried to be extended, but the Audit Chamber first in August and then in September blocked this decision, claiming that there were no more proven “unforeseen circumstances” and that an open tender was needed.

Since the contract expired in October and people still needed to commute, ΚΤΕΛ's formalized contracts to provide free services to the region for two months in exchange for the tacit promise of additional subsidies in the future (e.g., in April 2023, KTEL Αττικής received an emergency subsidy of 3 million).

On December 6, 2022, the direct contract with ΚΤΕΛ Ατττικής was extended for a year, and the number of routes was increased by 12 more (to 72), while additional buses were requested from all over the country.

The same problem “unexpectedly” appeared at the end of the second contract: in November 2023, the Audit Chamber again blocked the extension, this time blaming the organizer of ΟΑΣΑ for the delay in holding an international tender for long-term service of the routes. The organizer himself excused the delay by the fact that it was impossible to predict passenger traffic after the end of the pandemic, so there was no way to announce the tender earlier.
Similar to the end of 2022, ΚΤΕΛ also had to work on a “donation” basis, but this time only for two weeks, until the five ministers changed the tax law to circumvent this particular ban.

This time, the contract was extended until the operator to be determined by a future tender can start work, but no later than the end of 2024. The contract was extended even though in September 2023 ΚΤΕΛ Αττικής began bankruptcy proceedings, the number of buses in operation had decreased many times over, and the technical condition of the remaining buses was so bad that various accidents, including fires on the run, became routine.

The situation came to a peak in February 2024, when all ΚΤΕΛ buses stopped running, leaving hundreds of passengers waiting in the rain. Officially, the stoppage was explained by a strike by the drivers (who had not been paid for months), but in reality the situation was even worse, especially for ΚΤΕΛ Ατττικής, which had no money left even to pay for fuel for its buses(!)

3. ΚΤΕΛ Αττικής

If we look at the state of the general contractor ΚΤΕΛ Ατττικής, the reasons for this situation become quite clear. Since 2023, the company has stopped paying for the leasing of buses, and the existing debts have grown to €15 million, besides the two million owed to the state in the form of taxes.

The company has never shown a profit in the entire history of reporting, but after 2020 the situation became catastrophic: the interest on loans alone exceeded the profit. In 21-22 the company was even forgiven more than €5 million of debts, but neither this nor the constant investments of millions of euros from the state could save the company.

The resource of buses without any maintenance also began to run out: in just two years, more than half of more than 100 buses of the company were stripped for spare parts.

4. "Rescue tender"

In November 2023, the transport provider ΟΑΣΑ received a 400 million euro loan from the Greek Ministry of Transport for 2024-2032. After 4 years of waiting, this finally made it possible to announce an international tender for the long-term service of Attica's suburban routes.

The two contracts provide for the maintenance of 63 routes for 8+2 years with a compensation of €2.3 per km (+VAT), i.e. €19.54 million per year, plus ticket revenue and other subsidies (e.g. for reduced fares).

The first contract ( now already in force) includes 24 routes in East Attica with 1,188 daily trips with at least 96 buses. The second (from February 2025) covers 38 routes in Western Attica with 1,757 daily trips and 115 buses.

Lessons have been learned, so this time the contract terms require new low-floor city buses of Euro IV standard or better (not excluding electric buses, but not obliging to buy them either, despite European directives). Besides other things, the conditions specify window sizes, vandal-proof seats, an air conditioning system and “watertightness”

The buses must be running within 9 months from the date of signing the contract and there must be “at least one depot”, and each vehicle should have a minimum of 2.7 drivers. There were also various penalties of up to 5% of the monthly payment in case of breach of terms and up to 10% in case of “decreased user satisfaction”.

Although ΟΑΣΑ expected a lot of interest in the tender from Greek and international companies but by the deadline not a single company had applied to take part. The tender was declared unsuccessful.

The tender was re-launched under the same terms in December 2023 and by the closing date only one application had been submitted, which was automatically recognized as the winner.

5. Συγκοινωνίες Α.Ε.

The company, with an authorized capital of €200.000`, is founded by six different KTELs and two owners of travel companies: ΚΤΕΛ Κορινθίας (29%), ΚΤΕΛ Χανίων–Ρεθύμνου (28%), ΚΤΕΛ Σαλαμίνας (12%), ΚΤΕΛ Μαγνησίας (4%), ΚΤΕΛ Θήβας(4%), ΚΤΕΛ Αργολίδας (2%), Panolympia — Smile Acadimos (10%) Maroulis Travel (5%). Notably missing from the list is neither ΚΤΕΛ Εύβοιας nor, more importantly, the former general contractor ΚΤΕΛ Ατττικής.

Even before the tender, the company ordered from the Turkish MAN plant Lion's City 12 and Lion's City 18 buses, many of which have already been registered and operating. By October, 96 buses are supposed to be in service, with the remaining 112 to arrive by the start of the second contract in February.

The new company's working contracts show that the gross salary is €1,300 per month for drivers of 12-meter buses, and €1,400 for 18-meter buses with a five-day, 40-hour work week. The driver must also “make every effort to repair breakdowns on site, ensure the bus is supplied with fuel, lubricants, engine oil and water, check for air in the tires and inspect them regularly for damage.” Besides other things, the drivers of the last shifts have to take care of the cleaning inside and outside of the bus themselves.

6. Afterword

We don't know if this is part of a larger context of dialogue about the reorganization of bus companies, but at the end of July, shortly before the tender was closed, Dimitris Kolindrinis (a member of the board of the new transport company) complained that unknown people had shot his beloved horse with buckshot on his property and sent a public message to the criminal to “change the planet”.

The source of the funds used to finance the purchase of 200 new buses and the construction of infrastructure is unknown, and the fact that routes continue to be transferred to private companies reminds Greeks of the situation in 1992, when the government tried to privatize the Athens transport company ΕΑΣ.

The plan was to liquidate the state-owned company, lay off 8,000 employees, and create a new structure (ΣΕΠ) with the free transfer of 1,700 state-owned buses to private licensed individuals. Priority in licensing was to be given to drivers already employed by ΕΑΣ (“housekeepers”, as the minister of the time called them).

This then provoked major protests by the bus drivers' union, leading to the arrests of over 250 participants and the demonstrative rejection of drivers who attempted to apply for licenses on September 9, 1992. As a result, the streets of Athens were in daily chaos, buses were stalled in depots, and military trucks were used as public transportation. The situation was only resolved with the departure of the Mitsotakis government in October 1993.

It is still unclear what will happen to public transportation in Athens, but routes “temporarily” given to private companies under the excuse of a coronavirus emergency will not return in the near future.