Residents protest after KTEL cuts bus service to their village
KTEL
22 Jun 2022
/ 10:19
CORFU. KTEL says that routes have to be reduced due to much fewer passengers travelling.
Agios Dimitrios residents in Chlomos, South Corfu are protesting against the cutting of the KTEL bus service to their village - and particularly in the summer.
Agios Dimitrios Cultural & Agricultural Society has sent a letter to Corfu KTEL President Tasos Tsimpoulis, Deputy Regional Governor for Corfu Kostas Zorbas, the three Corfu MPs, South Corfu Mayor Kostas Lessis and the local media. They state that the situation is unacceptable as it causes difficulties for the elderly and those with health problems - even more so in the summer.
They say that with the ending of the school year, the bus services to more isolated villages are also stopped. The protest comes following the fact that on Monday at 05:30 five Agios Dimitrios residents waited at the bus stop for the bus...which never came.
"We are sure that it is not only Agios Dimitrios and Chlomos that have this problem in Corfu, it is the same in all the more isolated villages," the Agios Dimitrios Society secretary Dimitris Artinopoulos says in the letter. "We have all been abandoned. Let's change this attitude for the better."
The response from KTEL
Corfu KTEL President Tasos Tsimpoulis told Enimerosi that, by law, the service can be terminated due to very little or no demand. However, so that the village is not excluded, services have been merged and there is now a delay of 15-20 minutes.
"By law, if KTEL has less than 25% of passengers, it can terminate the service," he said. "Because there is a figure of 0-15% for the villages, we have the legal right to terminate the services but we decided instead to merge them with a delay of 15-20 minutes." He added that there is also the matter of the road to the village being dangerous.
Agios Dimitrios Cultural & Agricultural Society has sent a letter to Corfu KTEL President Tasos Tsimpoulis, Deputy Regional Governor for Corfu Kostas Zorbas, the three Corfu MPs, South Corfu Mayor Kostas Lessis and the local media. They state that the situation is unacceptable as it causes difficulties for the elderly and those with health problems - even more so in the summer.
They say that with the ending of the school year, the bus services to more isolated villages are also stopped. The protest comes following the fact that on Monday at 05:30 five Agios Dimitrios residents waited at the bus stop for the bus...which never came.
"We are sure that it is not only Agios Dimitrios and Chlomos that have this problem in Corfu, it is the same in all the more isolated villages," the Agios Dimitrios Society secretary Dimitris Artinopoulos says in the letter. "We have all been abandoned. Let's change this attitude for the better."
The response from KTEL
Corfu KTEL President Tasos Tsimpoulis told Enimerosi that, by law, the service can be terminated due to very little or no demand. However, so that the village is not excluded, services have been merged and there is now a delay of 15-20 minutes.
"By law, if KTEL has less than 25% of passengers, it can terminate the service," he said. "Because there is a figure of 0-15% for the villages, we have the legal right to terminate the services but we decided instead to merge them with a delay of 15-20 minutes." He added that there is also the matter of the road to the village being dangerous.
