The first scientific meeting on Olympic Transport, which concluded today with some of the country’s foremost experts on transportation, revealed a vision of a ‘New Athens’ to be created as a result of extensive public transport improvements related to the 2004 Games.
The meeting was the result of long-term cooperation between the ATHENS 2004 Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and the Society of Greek Transport Communications Experts.
Speakers brought forth statistics and arguments on transport related public works and concluded that this sector will be the one from which the Athenian public and visitors are likely to benefit most as a result of the 2004
Olympic Games.
According to ATHENS 2004 President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, the new transport model that will be applied prior to and during the Games ‘will constitute the most important legacy we will leave to Athens and to Greece’.
She pointed out that the capital city will be operating with a new metro, a new airport, a tram network, a suburban railway, a new circular highway and new roads. And all this infrastructure, she added, will be operated with telematic systems and coordinated control programmes to facilitate the
Athenian public,the Olympic family and visitors.
The end result, she said, was that after the Games a public transport system will be functional that will be of enormous value in terms of time and money saved.
Other speakers included Transport Minister Christos Verelis, the President of the Society of Transport Communications Experts G. Yannis, the General Secretary for Co-Financed projects of the Environment and Public Works
Ministry Georgios Ganotis, ATHENS 2004 Executive Director Spyros Capralos, the ATHENS 2004 General Manager for Transport Panayotis Protopsaltis, and the International Olympic Committee Transport Expert, Philippe Bovy.
The speakers revealed impressive statistics on the number of transport projects underway in Athens at present, on the money and time that will be saved, and on the improvement in the quality of life that these changes will bring for Athenians and the capital’s visitors. Transport Minister Mr.
Verelis warned that increasing congestion in Athens has meant that the average speed of buses has been reduced from 20 kilometres an hour in 1989 to 12.5 kilometres today.
Over that same time span, the number of private cars has doubled.
ATHENS 2004 Executive Director Mr. Capralos pointed out to the participants that during the actual course of the Games more than 200,000 active participants in the Olympics (from athletes to officials, employees and volunteers) will be moving around the city on a regular basis. The figure, he said, does not even include the large number of spectators and visitors.
Mr. Bovy of the IOC estimated that over the 17 days of the Athens Olympic Games, some 20 million people will be transported for events and activity related to the Games. He said that in Sydney about 80 percent were transported by train.
All speakers agreed that the only solution was to create a reliable public transport system that would make Athenians and visitors prefer it to the use of private cars.
Mrs. Angelopoulos, in conclusion, reminded the participants that the success of the transport venture was crucial to the overall success of the Games – as proved in Atlanta and Sydney in 1996 and 2000 respectively. She hailed the fact that those present at the conference included the country’s best experts on transport matters, as well as international experts. This, she said, generated optimism that the Greek transport effort would continue with increased enthusiasm and would ultimately prove a cornerstone in the overall
success of the Olympic Games.
For further information, please contact:
ATHOC International Media Desk
Tel. 003-01-2004 002
Fax. 003-01-2004 003
e-mail: kkaplani@athens2004.gr