Subsidised training at an OSI Driving School includes plans to increase the “pool” of bus drivers, according to Deputy Transport Minister Costas Kyranakis, speaking in Parliament earlier today. The deputy minister pointed out that a recent law has provided for the creation of a driving school so that if someone has a conventional driving licence, he or she can be fully subsidised for training at the OSI Driving School, “on condition that they stay behind the wheel for five years.”

Nasos Iliopoulos, a New Left MP, raised the issue of staffing the OSI with drivers and the safety and health measures in OSI vehicles. The MP asked for data on the work schedules, the drivers’ working hours and changes in their service status, the scheduled daily shifts. The MP described as critical the issue related to health and safety in the PSY and the inspections by the Labour Inspectorate, occupational physicians.

According to the information presented by the Deputy Minister of Transport:

-From 2020 to 2025 there were 645 departures, for various reasons (dismissal, death, transfer, resignation, retirement).

-The doctors, by law, in the PSU are required to be three. A few weeks ago there was a retirement and the position has already been advertised. Two more positions are being advertised at the same time.

-The last inspection was January 2026 and there is a disagreement with the ACA because the law says there must be three safety doctors and the interpretation that the ACA has given is that there must be one doctor per depot. “We disagree with this interpretation and that is why we have taken legal action in the Piraeus Administrative Court of First Instance to resolve this dispute. However, the law is clear,” Kyranakis said.

-The current number of active drivers is 2,700 but there is an open call and an additional notice will be issued soon, for the first time, without the requirement of a professional license. This, the deputy minister said, is because a recent law has provided for the establishment of a driving school and so if someone has a conventional driving licence, they can be fully subsidised for training at the PSU Driving School, provided they stay behind the wheel for five years. “Today, the strength is 2,700 and obviously our target is to increase it to 3,200. Last year at this time it was 2,400 and so we have a significant increase both because of projections and because of drivers returning to the wheel who have been deemed fit to drive by the medical examinations we have done,” Kyranakis said.

-Timetables are posted in the OASA annual report, both for OASY and for consortium routes.

“The two retirements were from 2024, not just a few weeks ago. I’m glad you say there’s a notice for a job doctor, we hadn’t seen it. We saw the notice you put out for ten lawyers…,” commented Nassos Iliopoulos, noting that it’s not clear why OSI has to go to court with the Labour Inspectorate.

The MP referred to the 2024 performance report for which he noted that it shows that “504,000 routes were lost and 440,000 were lost due to lack of drivers” and called on the deputy minister to answer how many routes were lost in 2025 due to lack of drivers, noting that especially in the morning rush hours, when many people want to go to work, they wait 20′ and 30′ to catch a bus. “When you currently have a working doctor, you can’t say things are going well for health and safety. When we had another bus fire in Ilion today, it’s clear that there are issues in safety, there are issues in shortages, there are issues in terms of pay to workers, there are therefore issues in transport,” he said.

“I think you have been misinformed about the lost routes,” the deputy transport minister countered, noting that “in 2023 we had 4,897,296 bus routes and in 2024 there was indeed a reduction of 4,705,000, a reduction of 192,000 routes, not half a million. In 2025 we had an increase in routes compared to 2024, we had 4,739,056 routes. In fact, the report has not included all of December, so there will be a larger increase. In 2026, I personally guarantee you that based on the hiring we have done and the return of drivers to the wheel, we will have an even greater increase in routes,” he said.

For active drivers, the deputy minister said that because the retirement phenomenon is “dynamic”, every month the number varies. “My goal is to maintain the upward trend, 3,200 drivers must be at the wheel so that we can fully implement the OASA programme. We have not yet reached our target, we are working every day to get there,” Kyranakis said and informed there will be a “pool of drivers” on fixed-term contracts, who will be made permanent “if they prove they are good drivers and have an overall professional attitude.”

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