More than 500 applications have been submitted to the OSI’s model driving school, through which subsidised training is offered.

According to sources at the Ministry of Transport, the interest already registered is already considered to be very encouraging, “confirming that the profession of driver is becoming attractive again when it is accompanied by stable working conditions, modern training and a clear professional perspective”. Through the new model driving school, instead of exclusively seeking ready-made professional drivers in a market already facing serious shortages, the PSU is attempting to create its own pool of human resources, they explain.

The school offers subsidised training for a professional driving licence and at the same time paves the way for immediate professional rehabilitation in urban transport. It is a model that for the first time links education and employment in an organised way and aspires to tackle the problem (driver shortages) at its root, they add.

It is considered that the interventions made in the working environment of the transport sector also play a decisive role in this development: The signing of new collective agreements at OSI and STASY, the improvement of salaries and the overall effort to improve working conditions were crucial factors in attracting new staff.

In fact, according to the same DOT sources, “for the first time in many years, a coherent framework is being formed that allows workers to see urban transport as a stable and attractive career choice.”

The Department for Transport believes “that the battle for transport in the next decade will be decided less by the vehicles and more by the people who staff them. And if until a few years ago the shortage of drivers was the biggest obstacle to upgrading urban transport, today it is gradually becoming one of the key indicators of its progress.”

A monthly bonus of €150 has been introduced for bus drivers

An incentive to attract drivers was the monthly bonus of 150 euros that active drivers receive regardless of their salary. The intervention is part of the overall plan to reinforce OSS with new staff and is aimed at meeting the increased needs of the transport project, helping to improve the frequency and reliability of services.

The issue of driver shortages is one of the biggest challenges facing public transport across Europe today. Indeed, in many European cities, the shortage of staff has become a key factor in limiting services and deteriorating services. And for years Athens was no exception.

The problem was not only in the fleet or infrastructure, but also in human resources, as hundreds of drivers had left OSI in previous years due to retirement and other reasons, creating a permanent gap that directly affected the ability to run services.

The main objective of the government and the Ministry of Transport was and is the upgrading of Athens’ urban transport, the supply of new vehicles and the strengthening of human resources, the Ministry of Transport stresses.

Three thousand drivers by the end of 2026

In this context, Deputy Transport Minister Konstantinos Kyranakis undertook to implement “a plan with clear objectives and measurable results”.

Today, OSI already has 2.820 drivers, compared to about 2,300 a year ago. The goal is by the end of the year to bring that number close to 3,000 drivers, the highest level in recent years.

“The importance of number is not accounting. It is functional. Every new driver means more vehicles available on the road, more routes, shorter waits at stops and greater reliability for the passenger. It means that the new buses acquired in recent years can be fully exploited for the benefit of the travelling public,” Ministry officials note, adding that “for the Government, achieving the target of 3,000 drivers is a prerequisite for turning the investments of recent years into a tangible result for hundreds of thousands of citizens who use public transport every day. And perhaps for the first time in many years, this bet appears to be entirely achievable.”

Controls to address abusive sick leave

Along with the recruitment and operation of the model driving school, the Ministry of Transport, as the same officials explain, also undertook “sweeping checks to tackle phenomena of abusive sick leave that deprived staff of transport services”.

The checks involved around 700 bus drivers who were off duty for long periods of time. According to the data presented by Konstantinos Kyranakis, in “many cases it was found that employees who declared themselves unable to work for the OSS were normally employed in tourist agencies or other professional activities.”

“The intervention has had an immediate effect, with around 150 drivers already returning to active duty, boosting staff availability and helping to increase services. At the same time, disciplinary proceedings were initiated where necessary,”

Time dimensions at 9 minutes for standard lines increasing to 20

The 15 model bus lines implemented in the past period are recording a noticeable improvement in peak-hour journey times compared with a year ago, the Ministry says, stressing that “the results are already starting to be visible in the daily lives of passengers”.The programme is now being extended to 20 lines, with the aim of making the improvement permanent and affecting an increasing proportion of the network.

“The improvement is already reflected in passengers’ daily lives, with a significant reduction in waiting times on standard lines, an element linked to both the increase in vehicle availability and the operational reorganisation of the network,” sources at the Ministry of Transport stress.

Specifically, on the 15 model lines, which serve almost 40% of the validations of the transport network, the average waiting time has already been reduced from 20 to 12 minutes with an ultimate target of 8 minutes in the morning peak.

For example, the 550 line has gone from 18 minutes to 11 minutes today, while the target is 8 minutes. Similarly, the 608 line has gone from 13 minutes to 8.

This effort adds another critical factor: protecting bus lanes. The implementation of the new Highway Code and the phased deployment of a camera system to control illegal parking and illegal entry into dedicated lanes is expected to further improve the speed and consistency of service, it is estimated.

“For the first time, fleet enhancement, increasing the number of drivers and protecting bus traffic are being treated as parts of the same plan,” the DOT sources said.