Thessaloniki urban buses fleet to be reinforced with 100 new vehicles

The Court of Audit has given the green light for the contract between OSETH and KTEL companies, which will be entrusted with 1/3 of the city’s routes, primarily to the outskirts of Thessaloniki, for better passenger services. Therefore, in the coming days, 100 new buses will start circulating in the city.

More specifically:

1. By March 23, the residents of Thessaloniki will see 35 new buses running in the city, covering a total of 11 routes,

2. In the first week of April, 65 more new vehicles will cover another 14 routes, making for a total of 25 lines and 100 new buses.

According to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the process of equipping the vehicles with telematics systems as well as ticket validation machines complying with OSETH specifications has begun and is progressing rapidly.

It is also noted that with the implementation of the contract, the cost per kilometer on the routes currently operated by OSETH will be reduced from 3.93  euros/km to 1.43 euros/km, saving about 23m euros for the Greek State.

“It’s a very important day for Thessaloniki. Everybody knows that we found the city’s public transport in a really bad shape and that their problems couldn’t be solved overnight. From the first moment, we started doing crisis management. We understand the despair of the citizens and work systematically to improve the situation. Without big statements, the agreement with the KTEL buses is now a reality.

The 100 new buses do not solve the problem, but will relieve the situation. And it is doubly important that this will be done in the near future while we have an extremely important reason to avoid overcrowding.

And our effort continues. As it is known, another 170 to 200 new buses will be added to the OSETH’s fleet through a lease tender that will be launched in the coming weeks.

In this way, by September 2020 the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport will have secured more than 300 new buses for the performance improvement of Thessaloniki’s urban transport.

As the Prime Minister himself has pledged in TIF, we are doing our best to make the daily lives of Thessaloniki’s citizens more humane. Our ultimate goal is for the city to really get the urban transport it deserves”, Minister Kostas Karamanlis commented.