Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke at the Sepolia depot about the progress made in urban transport and public transportation. The Prime Minister described “the new collective agreements for STASY and OASA that we will sign in the coming days” as “the least we can do to say thank you.” He spoke about the goal of 1,700 new buses, after reminding that the government managed to implement the target of 1,000 by mid-2026, while he said that achieving 3.5-minute waiting times during peak hours is a challenge “that we can accomplish.” The Prime Minister spoke at the event titled “public transport is changing Athens” with a vision for 2030, organized by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. He did so after witnessing the agencies’ plan to have 40% of Athenians using public transport by 2035.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: “We want to give young people the opportunity”
“Impressive progress in Athens transport in recent years. In 2023, when we presented our program to Greek citizens, we had prioritized improving urban transport as a basic policy priority. For 15 years there had been no hirings, no new buses purchased. Workers kept the lines alive. So we made some commitments,” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “We said we need to make a series of important interventions. We had said that by mid-2026 we wanted 1,000 new buses on Athens streets. We fortunately reached 1,076, we said it and we did it. So, our goal is 1,700,” the Prime Minister stated. He spoke about his inspection of the new buses and commented that he noticed the air conditioning, while revealing that he asked the driver if his seat was comfortable. “We have made significant hirings, because we want, in addition to buses, to increase their frequency,” he continued, saying that “we want to give young people the opportunity to become drivers, a profession with good benefits and prospects, since with artificial intelligence everything is changing.”
Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasized that investment in public transport was essential because “we wanted to make urban transport attractive to citizens. Also, we wanted to invest in public transport and maintain the cheapest ticket in Europe.”
“We have secured the resources to upgrade another 10 train cars, this upgrade is being done in Volos by a Greek company with Greek hands,” emphasized Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who congratulated STASY for its initiatives, even for the aesthetic upgrades regarding train cleaning and visual identity. “We want to reach 3.5-minute frequency during peak traffic times, we can achieve it, we can utilize all the funding tools we have at our disposal, and there are plenty,” claimed the Prime Minister, who also spoke about technology with unlimited possibilities that can be leveraged.
“Usually, when you go to the Finance Ministry the answer is always no. But Konstantinos Kyranakis convinced me that if we want to achieve great change, we
