Transport for Athens


Transport for Athens, officially the Athens Urban Transport Organisation, is the operator of public transport in Athens, Greece. Transport for Athens, through its subsidiary companies, operates metro, tram, trolleybus and bus services in the Athens metropolitan area.

Companies

As of July 2011, the Athens Mass Transit System consists of:
Transport for Athens also coordinates the Athens Suburban Railway, using Hellenic Railways Organisation lines, operated by Hellenic Train S.A. under the Proastiakos brand. The section between Piraeus, Magoula and Koropi is regarded as the urban part.

Recent History

In March 2011, with the Greek Government Law 3920 Attiko Metro Operational Company absorbed Athens-Piraeus Electric Railways S.A. and TRAM S.A. and was renamed "STASY S.A.". Also ETHEL S.A. absorbed ILPAP S.A. and was renamed as "OSY S.A.". The mergers were officially announced on June 10, 2011. While mergers at the top management level took place quickly, integration of the former companies at operations and support level proceeds slowly.
ISAP, ETHEL and ILPAP were wholly owned by OASA. AMEL and Tram S.A. until June 2011 were subsidiaries of Attiko Metro S.A., a company that also wholly owned by the Greek government.
Hellenic Train S.A., which absorbed the former Proastiakos S.A. in 2007, became independent of the OSE group in 2008 and until 2017 it is a separate private company.
OASA regularly conducts street photography and videography competitions both in black-and-white and in colour for photos taken while inside its means of transport.

Fare collection system

Up until the 80s, fare collectors were commonplace in all means of mass transport in Athens. Their replacement was a money box placed at the front end of the vehicles, next to the driver, where passengers would deposit their fare in cash, usually coinage. A decade later, they were replaced with validation machines and paper tickets. The end of the single-use paper ticket came in 2017, when it was succeeded by the ATH.ENA electronic stored-value cards and tickets. Tickets are now rechargeable and can be loaded with up to 5-day unlimited ticket, but not with long term fare products, discount tickets or monetary value. Cards can hold all fare types and a maximum of €50, with the exception of discount tickets which are tied to personalised cards.
Tickets and cards are validated contaclessly in validation machines inside buses, trolleybuses and trams. Suburban railway trains and the Athens Metro utilize turnstiles.
The ATH.ENA ticket and ATH.ENA card can also be used in suburban railway trains starting from Magoula or Dhekelia and onwards.
In addition to ATH.ENA Ticket and ATH.ENA Card, OASA introduced the contactless payment system in Athens and surrounding areas, which is codenamed tap2ride.It was introduced on a pilot basis in Athens International Airport Express buses on 24 April 2024. It was fully implemented on 15 January 2025 on all means of transport.
All contactless debit and credit cards issued in Greece and also most international cards supporting contactless payment, are accepted for travel on all means of transport. This works in the same way for the passenger as an ATH.ENA Ticket and ATH.ENA Card, including the use of Fare capping. Mobile payments - such as Apple Pay and Google Pay - are also accepted in the same way as contactless payment cards. The fares are the same as those charged on a debit or credit card, including the same daily capping. Paid rides from and to the Athens International Airport are not counted towards the daily fare cap which is 4.10€ or 4 rides per day. Each paid ride towards the daily fare cap includes 90 minutes of free transfers.

Depots

Metro

Eirini depot
Piraeus depot
Thisseio depot
Sepolia depot
Stavros depot
Eleonas depot

Tram

Elliniko depot

Trolleybus

Attiki depot
Gazi depot
Kokkinos Mylos depot
Neo Faliro depot
Rouf depot

Bus

Agios Dimitrios depot
Ano Liosia depot
Anthousa depot
Elliniko depot
Petrou Ralli depot
Rentis depot
Thriaseio depot
Votanikos depot

OASA companies established in 2011

  • Non-OASA companies

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Category:Intermodal transport authorities
Category:Rail transport in Attica