Main article: Public transport in Athens
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Athens is serviced by a variety of transportation means, forming the largest mass transit system of Greece. The Athens Mass Transit System consists of a large bus fleet, a trolleybus fleet that mainly serves Athens's city center, the city's Metro, a commuter rail service[101] and a tram network, connecting the southern suburbs to the city centre.[102]
Bus transport[edit]
Ethel (Greek: ΕΘΕΛ) (Etaireia Thermikon Leoforeion), or Thermal Bus Company, is the main operator of buses in Athens. Its network consists of about 300 bus lines which span the Athens Metropolitan Area,[103] with an operating staff of 5,327, and a fleet of 1,839 buses.[104] Of those 1,839 buses 416 run on compressed natural gas,[104] making up the largest fleet of natural gas-powered buses in Europe.[105]
Besides being served by a fleet of natural-gas and diesel buses, the Athens Urban Area is also served by trolleybuses – or electric buses, as they are referred to in the name of the operating company. The network is operated by Electric Buses of the Athens and PiraeusRegion, or ILPAP (Greek: ΗΛΠΑΠ) and consists of 22 lines with an operating staff of 1,137.[106] All of the 366 trolleybuses are equipped to enable them to run on diesel in case of power failure.[106]
International and regional bus links are provided by KTEL from two InterCity Bus Terminals, Kifissos Bus Terminal A and Liosion Bus Terminal B, both located in the north-western part of the city. Kifissos provides connections towards the Peloponnese and Attica, whereas Liosion is used for most northerly mainland destinations.
Athens Metro[edit]
Main article: Athens Metro
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The Athens Metro is more commonly known in Greece as the Attiko Metro (Greek: Αττικό Mετρό) and provides public transport throughout the Athens Urban Area. While its main purpose is transport, it also houses Greek artifacts found during construction of the system.[107]The Athens Metro has an operating staff of 387 and runs two of the three metro lines; namely the Red (line 2) and Blue (line 3) lines, which were constructed largely during the 1990s, with the initial sections opened in January 2000. All routes run entirely underground and a fleet of 42 trains consisting of 252 cars operate within the network,[108] with a daily occupancy of 550,000 passengers.[108]
The Red Line (line 2) runs from Anthoupoli station to Elliniko station and covers a distance of 17.5 km (10.9 mi).[108] The line connects the western suburbs of Athens with the southeast suburbs passing through the center of Athens. The line associated with Green (line 1)stations at Attiki and Omonoia Square station. Also the line connected with the Blue (line 3) at Syntagma Square station and connected with Tram at Syntagma Square, Sygrou-Fix and Agios Ioannis station.
The Blue Line (line 3) runs from the western suburbs, namely Agia Marina to the Egaleo station, through the central Monastiraki andSyntagma stations to Doukissis Plakentias avenue in the northeastern suburb of Halandri, covering a distance of 16 km (10 mi),[108] then ascending to ground level and reachingEleftherios Venizelos International Airport, using the Suburban Railway infrastructure and extending its length to 39 km (24 mi).[108] The spring 2007 extension from Monastiraki westwards, to Egaleo, connected some of the main night life hubs of the city, namely the ones of Gazi (Kerameikos station) with Psirri (Monastiraki station) and the city centre (Syntagma station). Extensions are under construction to the west southwest suburbs of Athens, reaching to the port and the center of Piraeus. The new stations will be Agia Barvara, Koridallos, Nikaia, Maniatika, Piraeus and Dimotiko Theatro station. The stations will be ready in 2017, connecting the biggest port of Greece Piraeus Port with the biggest airport of Greece the Athens International Airport.
Electric railway (ISAP)[edit]
Main article: ISAP
Not run by the Athens Metro company, is the ISAP (Greek: ΗΣΑΠ), the Electric Railway Company line, which for many years served as Athens's primary urban rail transport. This is today the Green Line (line 1) of the Athens Metro network as shown on maps, and unlike the red and blue lines, ISAP has many above-ground sections on its route. This was the original metro line from Piraeus to Kifisia; serving 22 stations,[109] with a network length of 25.6 km (15.9 mi),[109] an operating staff of 730 and a fleet of 44 trains and 243 cars.[109] ISAP's occupancy rate is 600,000 passengers daily.[109]
The Green Line (line 1) now serves 24 stations, and forms the oldest line of the Athens metro network and for the most part runs at ground level,[110] connecting the port of Piraeus with the northern suburb of Kifissia. The line is set to be extended to Agios Stefanos, a suburb located 23 km (14 mi)[citation needed] to the north of Athens, reaching to 36 km (22 mi).[citation needed]
The Athens Metropolitan Railway system is managed by three companies; namely ISAP (line 1),[111] Attiko Metro (lines 2 & 3), while its commuter rail, the Proastiakós is considered as line 4.[citation needed]
Commuter/suburban rail (Proastiakos)[edit]
Main article: Proastiakos
The Athens commuter rail service, referred to as the "Proastiakós", connects Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport to the city ofCorinth, 80 km (50 mi)[112] west of Athens, via Larissa station, the city's central rail station and the port of Piraeus. The service is sometimes considered the fourth line of the Athens Metro. The length of Athens's commuter rail network extends to 120 km (75 mi),[112]and is expected to stretch to 281 km (175 mi) by 2010.[112] The Proastiakos will be extended to Xylokastro west of Athens and Chalkida.[112]
Tram[edit]
Main article: Athens Tram
Athens Tram SA operates a fleet of 35 vehicles,[113] called 'Sirios',[94] which serve 48 stations,[113]employ 345 people with an average daily occupancy of 65,000 passengers.[113] The tram network spans a total length of 27 km (17 mi) and covers ten Athenian suburbs.[113] The network runs fromSyntagma Square to the southwestern suburb of Palaio Faliro, where the line splits in two branches; the first runs along the Athens coastline toward the southern suburb of Voula, while the other heads toward the Piraeus district of Neo Faliro. The network covers the majority of the Saronic coastline.[114] Further extensions are planned towards the major commercial port ofPiraeus.[113] The expansion to Piraeus will include 12 new stations, increase the overall length of tram route by 5.4 km (3 mi), and increase the overall transportation network.[115]
Athens International Airport[edit]
Main article: Athens International Airport
Athens is served by the Athens International Airport (ATH), located near the town of Spata, in the eastern Messoghia plain, some 35 km (22 mi) east of Athens.[116] The airport, awarded the "European Airport of the Year 2004" Award,[117] is intended as an expandable hub for air travel in southeastern Europe and was constructed in 51 months, costing 2.2 billion euros. It employs a staff of 14,000.[117]
The airport is served by the Metro, the suburban rail, buses to Piraeus port, Athens' city centre and its suburbs, and also taxis. The airport accommodates 65 landings and take-offs per hour,[116] with its 24-passenger boarding bridges,[116] 144 check-in counters and broader 150,000 m2 (1,614,587 sq ft) main terminal;[116] and a commercial area of 7,000 m2(75,347 sq ft) which includes cafés, duty-free shops,[117] and a small museum.
In 2014, the airport handled 15,196,369 passengers, an increase of 21.2% over the previous year of 2013.[118] Of those 15,196,369 passengers, 5,267,593 passed through the airport for domestic flights,[119] and 9,970,006 passengers travelled through for international flights.[119] Beyond the dimensions of its passenger capacity, ATH handled 205,294 total flights in 2007, or approximately 562 flights per day.[120]
Railways and ferry connections[edit]
Athens is the hub of the country's national railway system (OSE), connecting the capital with major cities across Greece and abroad (Istanbul, Sofia and Bucharest).The Port of Piraeus connects Athens to the numerous Greek islands of the Aegean Sea, with ferries departing, while also serving the cruise ships that arrive.
Motorways[edit]
Further information: Highways in Greece
Two main motorways of Greece begin in Athens, namely the A1/E75, which crosses through Athens's Urban Area from Piraeus, heading north towards Greece's second largest city, Thessaloniki; and the A8/E94 heading west, towards Patras, which incorporated the GR-8A. Before their completion much of the road traffic used the GR-1 and the GR-8.
Athens' Metropolitan Area is served by the motorway network of the Attiki Odos toll-motorway (code: A6). Its main section extends from the western industrial suburb of Elefsina to Athens International Airport; while two beltways, namely the Aigaleo Beltway (A65) and the Hymettus Beltway (A64) serve parts of western and eastern Athens respectively. The span of the Attiki Odos in all its length is 65 km (40 mi),[121] making it the largest metropolitan motorway network in all of Greece.
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