(by 2 people)
A few words about transportation in Athens Greece
Like most modern cities Athens Greece is also experiencing number of transportation and commuting problems that derive from bad planning and overpopulation.
There are several ways you can commute in Athens today. Most people use their own car but this is a big problem because parking is limited and expensive. To add to the problem not all cars can enter Athens every day. There is a perimetric zone called "daktilios" or "ring". In order to enter this zone during the weekdays till 8 pm your should check your license plate last digit. IF the day of the month is an even number then only cars with last digits of even numbers can enter and vise versa.
This measure lead people into buying a second car with the number it fitted them.
There is the bus service or ETHEL. Actually there are many buses that they can take you anywhere you please. The only problem with this service is that the buses don't run a a tight schedule and most of the bus drivers are rude and speak on the cell phone while they are driving. Also you need to have a pre-bought ticket and finding a place to buy one, let say in the evening, is not easy.
There are two kind of buses, the blue buses that run or petroleum and the Green buses that run on natural gas.
The same goes for the "trolley" or ILPAP. The Athens trolley is basically a bus that gets it's power from an electrical grid above the street. Theses buses are yellow and they are as unreliable as the other buses. Some have air conditioning which is a must during the summer days and are able in case of a power failure to continue with a gas engine.
The electric subway. Athens now days has a well maintained and rather reliable underground grid of trains called the " Atikko Metro" This is an addition to an original line called " Electrikos" or ISAP that was operating since the 40's. The new lines, the blue and the red line are expanding and now are servicing many areas.
The "tram" This is the latest and rather unsuccessful addition to the system. The tram is a surface street train that moves in slow speeds and in this case does too many stops.
During the Olympic games an additional line was introduced called the 'Proastiakos". This is a suburban railway that connects the airport with the city and the city of Corinth. This is also expanding.
On top of all this there are the taxis....
How to spot a TAXI
A yellow can on the street is a TAXI
Athenian taxis are yellow. From the picture you can see that they can also be of different shades of yellow but don't consider this a problem because there are no other yellow cars in the streets than taxis.They are normally bigger or at least roomier cars than the average car you see in the road and you can hire them for a ride anywhere you want, even outside the city.
The taxis have a sigh on the top of the car with the words "TAXI". This sigh is lite when the taxi is ready for hireling. In addition to this sign there is a second one at the right side of the driver called the flag or "simaia" ahowing the Greek word: "ELEYTERO" meaning free, that also should be lite and up in a free or unoccupied taxi and off and down in a hired taxi.
Normally a free or unoccupied taxi will have both signs on. This is very helpful during the night since you can recognize a taxi from the distance.
Having the signs off doesn't mean that the taxi is not available though, it rather means that the driver either forgot to light them or he is doing some other thing.
Taxis also have taxi stops where they usually park and wait for customers. It is very hard to know were these are during the day mainly because taxis don;t wait at taxi stops during the day. The do that often during night were you can see a line of 10 or even more taxis waiting.
How to stop a TAXI and ride
....and way some times they don't stop....
1) The driver is not going for his brake or to change shift. This happens unfortunately around 3pm one of the busiest hours of the day. This kind of driver will ignore you and drive pass you. Occasionally he might stop and ask you were you going. No harm if you are heading towards the same direction he is going to deliver the car.
2) You are standing at the opposite side of the street or at the opposite direction. Athenians TAXI drivers don't like certain routes so if you stand in a spot that tell them from their experience you are heading somewhere they don't want to go ( generally because they will return back in the city without a customer ) they will ignore you.
3) The taxi has been hired from a radio service and it's heading to pick up some other customer.
How to ride a TAXI with other passangers in it!
...when there are no available free taxis...
In such occasions is good while you are making your hand signals to all taxis going by to also tell where you are going so the driver will stop and pick you up if you are heading towards the direction of his other customers. They are train to understand you by reading your lips.
What to expect from the TAXI service.
Ther is always good and bad service.
Here are some things you should know though:
1) During rush hours the driver won't exit the car to help you load anything into the back trunk.
2) They might smoke or they might not. They also might not allow you to smoke if they don't like so.
3) By law they have to ask you to wear your sit belt if you are siting next to them, but they might not wear theirs.
4) They might have loud music playing.
5) They don't like to be paid with big bills and loose all their change.
6) Sometimes though very rarely they will stop for fuel.
7) It is common for them to pay for possible tolls and then add it to the total fee.
8) The are not obligated to give you a receipt unless you ask for it.
9) Most like to round the expense of the ride to the nearest half or full Euro but you are not obligated to tip them. Most Greeks don't tip the taxi driver.
10) If they pick you up and don't like were you are going expect to hear complaining about that. In some cases they try to even see if they can pick someone else to ride with you so the ride becomes profitable.
11) Some times they will forget to initiate the taxi meter upon your entry. Be aware that taxi is cheep in Athens and unless you are coming form the airport or heading there with a number of luggage, a local trip won't cost more than 10 Euros. Some drivers are known to rip off tourists so be aware of that.
12) When you are riding with other passengers be aware that the driver might has to take alternative routs to service all of the passengers.
13) Taxi drivers don't like to wait for you. The pay is not good.
Other information you should know.
If you meed a taxi on a specific time you can also call a radio TAXI. This is a service that operates via the phone where you call them and they arrange for a taxi to come and pick you up. There are a number of such services and some are better than other. Calling the radio TAXI is not a guarantee that they will find a free taxi to send to you specially if you are calling during the rush time.
If you are a tourist and you ask your driver to recommend a restaurant or a Hotel for you, chances are he will take you in a place where he gets a commission from.
Last but not least, if you had experienced bad service, it is not uncommon to report it to the police. In this case make sure you have kept the taxi's license plate number.
A youtube video about Athens taxi drivers
Neil Cole - Taxi Guide to Athens
Neil finds Greek taxi drivers have reinvented themselves for the 21st century, and takes in the essential historic sites of Athens in the process
Runtime: 4:10
2389 views
10 Comments:
Athens tourist information and books in AMAZON
Best of Athens (Best Of)
Amazon Price: $10.19 (as of 10/10/2008)
Athens (Blue Guides)
Amazon Price: (as of 10/10/2008)
Guide to Athens
Amazon Price: (as of 10/10/2008)
Taxi Driver Wisdom
Amazon Price: $11.66 (as of 10/10/2008)
Taxi Driver (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Amazon Price: $14.99 (as of 10/10/2008)
