Over nine hundred million euros will be invested from the resources of the Social Climate Fund in interventions related to the strengthening, modernisation of public transport and accessibility of disabled people to the means as well as the replacement of conventional taxis with electric ones, micro-mobility and the transport of disabled students.
The draft law of the Ministry of National Economy and Finance “Social Climate Fund, Modernization Fund” was passed in principle by the Committee on Economic Affairs of the House of Representatives and will be introduced for discussion and voting on Monday in the plenary session.
Of the total of €5.3 billion (Social Climate Fund), €906.9 million will be allocated to the Social Fund. €690.9 billion will be allocated to strengthen the urban bus fleet in Athens and Thessaloniki, upgrade and supply new Metro trains to enhance services, upgrade OSE stations, develop public transport in Athens, replace taxis with electric ones, tailor-made transport for vulnerable citizens in rural/semi-urban areas and in Attica and Thessaloniki, transport for disabled students and sustainable transport. The main objective is to support society with an emphasis on accessibility, reducing inequalities and improving the daily life of citizens.
“We are moving forward with the upgrading of Public Transport using resources from the Social Climate Fund. We are strengthening the Athens Metro and the Athens Electric Line by upgrading and supplying a total of 22 trains, implementing renovation and accessibility interventions for people with disabilities in 33 suburban railway stations and adding 210 new electric buses, further strengthening the new fleet of 1500 new vehicles in Athens and Thessaloniki,” Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Konstantinos Kyranakis told APE-MPE.
In detail the interventions from the resources of the Social Climate Fund:
129 million euros will be allocated to urban transport in Athens and Thessaloniki. The fleet of OASA and OASTH is being modernised and upgraded with the addition of 210 new electric buses, which will primarily reinforce urban lines serving areas with increased transport needs, lower incomes and limited access to private cars, such as Western Attica and Western Thessaloniki. The addition of the new buses is expected to reduce waiting times at stops by 15% and increase the frequency of services. At the same time, the operating costs of public urban transport will be reduced by €35 million.
Significant investments are also expected in the fixed railways, aiming at upgrading both rolling stock and infrastructure. Sixty million euros will be allocated for the upgrade of 10 trains on Metro line 1. These trains, which used to serve Metro Line 1, are old technology, most of them built in 1995 and now decommissioned. The tender process for the refurbishment of the trains is expected to be completed in less than 12 months from today. With the implementation of the upgrade works, the average time between services on Line 1 is expected to be reduced from 7.12 minutes to 5.2 minutes. The project includes the addition of new equipment and the replacement or upgrade of obsolete systems, with a particular focus on improving energy efficiency combined with enhancing accessibility and serving vulnerable user groups. Specifically to serve people with disabilities, new accessibility equipment will be installed, such as portable ramps, high-contrast signage, special seating, wheelchair mounting systems, and customized audio announcement systems that are adjusted according to ambient noise levels.
7 million euros will be made available for the upgrading of the stations on line 1 of the Athens Metro. The action aims to ensure full accessibility at all 24 stations on Line 1 of the Athens Metro. It is noted that the stations on Line 1 are partially accessible for people with disabilities, but do not fully meet the required standards. By upgrading the stations, the aim is to increase the number of journeys made by people with disabilities from around 4,000 per day to 10,000. The interventions include improvements to platforms, lighting, ramps and disabled routes, as well as escalators, lifts, underground passages, waiting areas and passenger information systems.
As for Metro, Line 2 & 3, €210 million will be made available for the supply of 12 new trains to meet the operational needs of Lines 2 and 3. The new trains will allow STASY to improve the efficiency of maintenance of the equipment and support the extension of the line to Ilion. The tender process for the supply of the trains is expected to be completed within the next year, while thanks to the new trains the average time between services on Lines 2 and 3 is expected to be reduced to 3 minutes and 45 seconds.
Also, the interventions include digital mapping and guidance at all Athens and Thessaloniki Metro stations, €5.5 million will be made available. It is planned to develop an indoor navigation application, using artificial intelligence, which will provide step-by-step guidance for all users, ensuring full accessibility, at the 67 stations of the Athens Metro and 18 stations of the Thessaloniki Metro. This system is based on the successful pilot application at Acropolis station in 2024, which received very positive feedback from users and had a high degree of usability.
In the railway, €50 million will be allocated to upgrade accessibility infrastructure at 33 OSE railway stations, aiming at their safe, autonomous and unhindered use by people with disabilities, people with reduced mobility, elderly people and other vulnerable transport users. The investment is estimated to provide up to 815,000 accessible journeys per year for vulnerable transport users.
As far as the capital is concerned, the intervention ATHENS MOVE: Municipal Transport, with a budget of €11.2 million, is also included. The Municipality of Athens is creating 4 new municipal transport lines (Neos Kosmos-Petralona-Kerameikos / Kato Patissia-Sepolia-Kerameikos / Probona-Petralona-Ano Patissia-Kypseli / Attiki-Kypseli) to fill local transport gaps and serve areas of economic and transport vulnerability. The lines will operate complementary to OASA and Metro and the investment includes the purchase of 17 electric buses, charging infrastructure and upgrading of stops with full accessibility.
The interventions also include the development of Transport on Demand services in Attica and Thessaloniki, where €10.2 million will be allocated. This is a flexible local transport service in areas of Athens and Thessaloniki where conventional transport is not sufficient. The measure will cover around 26,000 vulnerable residents in Attica and around 18,500 in Thessaloniki, of which around 10,000 are disabled or with reduced mobility. The service is mainly aimed at elderly people, people with disabilities, single-parent and large families and the unemployed. It will be possible to book the service by phone or through an app.
The development of Transport on Demand services is also planned in rural/semi-urban areas to serve vulnerable citizens, with a budget of €44 million. The project includes the supply of around 100 fully accessible electric buses to serve 18 rural/semi-urban areas and the corresponding charging equipment. It also includes a national platform that will manage real-time booking, routing and fleet coordination (mobile app + call centre). Travel for specific population categories, e.g. disabled people, people over 65 years old, will be free of charge and the costs will be covered through a mechanism to be developed by the Ministry of Transport. At full deployment the service is expected to serve 27,000 regular users a year.
Special importance is also attached to the €219 million investment for the transport of disabled pupils in Athens, Thessaloniki and mountainous and island areas.
The project will also be funded by the government.
The measure significantly improves the existing transport system by ensuring that thousands of students with disabilities can get to school safely, while reducing the pressure on their families. The investment is expected to meet around 70% of the national transport needs of pupils with disabilities – around 11,000 pupils. The action will be implemented mainly in areas of Attica and Thessaloniki and will be gradually extended, with priority to island, mountainous and remote areas, including those with lower GDP per capita (e.g. Epirus, Western Macedonia, Eastern Macedonia-Thrace).
Subsidy for the replacement of conventional taxis with electric ones, amounting to €68 million. A subsidy of €20,000 is foreseen for replacing a conventional vehicle with an electric one. In the first phase, support is provided to taxi owners in Athens and Thessaloniki to facilitate the replacement of conventional vehicles whose life span is expiring with electric vehicles in application of the Climate Law and then the measure will be activated throughout the Territory. Direct access to the subsidy amount is foreseen without interfering with time-consuming bureaucratic procedures. The amount of the subsidy for disabled-accessible EDX taxis will be increased (29,000 euros).
Special emphasis is also placed on sustainable mobility, €93 million will be made available for cycle and pedestrian infrastructure. 12 projects will be implemented in cities across the country to develop a network of cycle and pedestrian paths, at least 76.8 km long, as well as micro-mobility interventions around 10 stations of the Thessaloniki Metro. The interventions focus on areas with transport and economic vulnerability, low incomes and insufficient public transport coverage, in order to make sustainable mobility more accessible to those who need it most. The measure is not only about building new cycle lanes, but also wider and safer pavements, upgrading lighting, safe crossings, and cycle parking. Projects will include: Agrinio (12.4 km), Ioannina (12 km), Alexandroupoli (10.6 km) and interconnection of universities in Athens (9.7 km).
