KLouis

Hopefully none of you flies to/from ATH this coming Thursday:

No buses, no trains, no taxis, no underground and no boats. Now, although there will be no disruptions in air travel (no strike planned), how on earth is somebody going to get to/from the airport?

SwissBritMiss

Uber ^ I was pleasantly surprised by the cost and the service this past weekend (we were unfortunate enough to encounter port strikes too).

benberg2013

And what's it all for this time?

No Taxis???? But they are not public transport, and not paid by the hour - they can make their own income by driving pax, no? So I'm sure there are some taxi drivers not being paid by the hour who would rather make money, than strike.

DELLAS

Attiko Metro is supposed to be running from 10:00-15:00 both red and blue lines but nothing to the Airport the metro will terminate at Doukissis Plakendias.

Green line 10:00-15:00

Fares also went up on the 1st February. Airport Bus EUR5 now increased to EUR6.

If anyone is stuck they use Uber as suggested above or Holidaytaxis.com

Arrivals

I will :-) and I'm already looking forward to it...

Jma12

Or KLouis can pick you up

KLouis

Gladly! Only problem is that I'm 310 km (~190 miles) away from Arrivals at ATH.

DELLAS

Some Domestic flights cancelled :


OA 062 Athens - Paros

OA 063 Paros - Athens

OA 040 Athens - Milos

OA 041 Milos - Athens

OA 012 Athens - Kalymnos

OA 013 Kalymnos - Athens

OA 030 Athens - Leros

OA 031 Leros - Athens

OA 036 Kos - Kalymnos

OA 036 Kalymnos - Leros

OA 036 Leros - Astypalaia

OA 021 Astypalaia - Athens

OA 016 Athens - Icaria

OA 017 Icaria - Athens

OA 054 Athens - Kythira

OA 055 Kythera - Athens

Xandrios

Thanks for the heads up.
Also, if the airport bus fare is increased to 6 bucks it is now double the amount it was 3 years ago. Wow.
Wonder if they will still accept my previously purchased tickets at 5 bucks..

lgts

No worries Xandrios, they will accept them until the end of April

Knobbgb

The airport buses really are becoming less and less of a choice for me. They are the world's most uncomfortable buses (well, not, but you know what I mean) - rock hard seats with no padding. Since the X95 route changed last year they now take 10 to 15 minutes longer too, winding through the backstreets of Palaio Faliro and Moschato. With the fares going up from 3.20 to 5.00 to 6.00 in a short amount of time they are simply no longer worth it and I'll be using the train (8 Euro) whenever possible. I think there should be a proper service on "coaches" (or whatever they're called in your country) - the type of bus they use for long distance travel with comfy seats, air conditioning and a baggage compartment below. I'd quite happily pay 10 Euro or more for one of these going non stop from Piraeus to the airport in, say, 45 minutes. ALL the bus services on this island and most other non-city areas of Greece are operated by these "coaches" as are some services from Athens - for example from the city centre out to the port at Rafina which is a similar distance. I know the airport service is operated only by the public bus company, but is this a rule? Are KTEL or even private companies not allowed to operate also?

Anyway, that's off-topic.

You obviously don't understand how Greek strikes work (and I'm not saying I do either!) but often even small private businesses will strike to show solidarity. There was talk that even the small convenience stores and kiosks would be on strike here today in Paros but apparently "they" decided against it.

Also, you will find that some taxi drivers will go out in their private vehicles on strike days and pick up people illegally. You can find cars like this if youwalk a few meters from the boats at the port but I'm not so sure about the airport. Not recommended of course...

Arrivals

Well, the metro airport ticket is also more expensive (10 € now). Sometimes the buses are very crowded though.

DELLAS

They are very uncomfortable and it does take ages. The problem is I am not sure they could justify an express coach as that X95 is supported by passengers and airport workers who would not pay the higher fee. Maybe another private company could come in and offer non stop every hour to Piraeus and Athens but I wonder how they would fair out.

For me the bus is still the most non stop /direct option and for EUR6 is it very good value still. For the same distance here in Ireland I pay around EUR8.75. I could get the Metro but that would mean changing at Mon/raki and then a bus/taxi home. I might try it next time just to see the time difference.

With all the strikes it would be nice to have a private sector bus company come in though.

Romanianflyer

It should be possible as the local KTEL operates Chania Airport - Chania in proper coaches for just 2,50 EUR.

The metro/train price to me is just plain ridiculous if comparing to other journeys. For about the same money I can hop on a 4-hour train ride from Athens all the way north to Trikala!

NWIFlyer

For residents of the UK (and doubtless other nations) who are not of an age where wildcat solidarity strikes were the norm, it is probably extremely difficult to understand how essentially an entire country can be brought to a standstill just because one group of workers wishes to strike.

The UK legislated against this many, many years ago - it was in the making as soon as Thatcher's Conservative Government was elected in 1979, following the 'Winter of Discontent' under the previous Labour administration, and those laws have been gradually strengthened since to include the need to hold a ballot and give notice of strike action. Secondary strikes are absolutely outlawed, and no union will even consider trying it on because the penalties are eye-watering. I imagine many other nations have similar provisions.

The same does not hold true for Greece. The reasons for that are well beyond the scope of this forum and would belong in OMNI PR, so I won't expand on that now, but suffice it to say that whilst the status quo continues we are likely to see this damaging uncertainty for a while to come - which really does nothing to help A3 in attracting passenger traffic.