PM Mitsotakis: Upgrading public transport a government priority

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday expressed the government's determination to support the various means of public transport in order to improve the quality of urban transport, at a meeting held at the Infrastructure and Transport Ministry on Friday.

"It is not acceptable for citizens to wait far too long to move about in Athens and, when a bus or a train finally arrives, to be packed in together in conditions that create a great deal more congestion than we can permit during these times," he said.

He noted that the government has decided to immediately proceed with the supply of 300 buses and the hiring of 655 staff in public transport and to support the bus network with 203 vehicles and 550 bus drivers on daily basis via the redesigning bus routes and a partnership with intercity bus companies via public- and private-sector partnerships.

He repeated that the use of face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus on all public transport was mandatory "as it goes without saying that with the use of masks we protect ourselves, especially in a bus or a train."