In March 2008, the ex-official KTEL website pulled all schedules and information about its vital long-distance bus network in Greece from public view. It wasn’t covered in English-language media, but what I understand from Greek media is a private company was using KTEL’s free information to make money by starting a pay-for-info call service.
Instead of starting a free service to put this company out of business — which should have been done years ago to prevent this type of violation to begin with — KTEL countered by also starting a pay-for-info call service costing 0.68/minute. With most residents addicted to their cars, not to mention damage to the environment, traffic getting worse and trains being limited in destinations, it seems wrong to create obstacles and make people pay money for information that should be free to the public.
Further, many travelers and residents will have a difficult time since these services are only offered in Greek. As tourism is Greece’s primary source of income, this is illogical.
Fortunately, some municipalities and independent websites have put up schedules to fill the void. Links are provided for anyone in need of schedules and information in English for KTEL long-distance buses operating in different regions. See:
- “KTEL Buses of Greece” for travel by bus within Greece; and
- “Buses from Greece to international locations for bus travel from Greece to another country.
* Hat tip to Constantinos, whose KTEL post reminded me I never wrote up an article.
Image capture from the ktel.org website
Kat Reply:
June 11th, 2008 at 20:26
Hi, C. It should have forwarded regardless of what language it was in, but I appreciate you giving me a heads up and changing it. You’re a star.