ΚΤΕΛ
22 04 2008It’s been some years since i last visited ktel.org (the official website of the bus service organization for Greece). Today, I had to check the timetable of the bus service from Athens to another town. To my surprise there was no information available regarding the timetables.
Instead they have proudly put an announcement that all timetable details are given over the phone number 14505 (and not for free), which is available 24/7. They also are proud to announce that in the event of a potential traveler needing pricing info or making a reservation they will be redirected to an operator.
I sincerely wonder who decided that a website is needed to advertise an over the phone service, how much they paid, etc. Brilliant minds, simply brilliant.
English support is out of the question, clicking on the English flag either gives you an error (on the homepage) others load the same page and others just take you to the homepage. No English at all.
It’s a pity and a shame to claim we are promoting tourism in our country and are competitive among others. From one side very attractive campaigns like The True Experience (by the way, visitgreece.gr does not even have a link for ktel.org only an indication under the “road connections” section that mentions ktel as a service and offers a phone number, amazing 
) are put forward and on the other side we do not offer essential services like bus transportation. Info only in Greek is useless especially over the phone (even calling from abroad is impossible). If you think about it, it will definitely be a true experience for tourists.
I guess some people (decision makers) in our country still do not know what and how to do things via the web! Those people are paid and proudly hold important positions :D.
I wonder what will I face when I will actually have to go to the central station and take the bus.
I’ve been meaning to post about this, but lately have no time. They took it down because another company was using their information for profit, namely it was offering timetables and information through a paid service. So instead of countering with a free service to quash these scoundrels, KTEL broke their site on purpose and is offering a paid service as well. And of course, the paid service is not in English either.
Seems to me if KTEL had done it right to begin with (i.e. offered a free info line, printed schedules, etc.), no one would have been able to do anything to them. Now, in addition to the taxes and money we pay for tickets to use public transport (with prices that just went up), we also have to pay for information that should be, well, public.
Free schedules are still available from EOT if you visit in person, though I realize that does most people no good. A number of municipalities have set up their own sites as well, such as http://www.ktelattikis.gr . The way we cope in GR is to call for a schedule, then show up early.