KTEL

Police in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, have arrested a couple for endangering their children after they were held briefly hostage by a dealer their father allegedly tried to rob during a drug buy.

A 27-year-old man has been hospitalized in critical condition after sustaining gunshot wounds late Thursday at the intercity bus (KTEL) central station on Kifissos Avenue in Athens.

A fire broke out on a long distance KTEL bus in the Magnesia region traveling the Athens-Thessaloniki route in the early hours of Sunday. 

All passengers were safely evacuated, and shortly after, they continued their journey on another bus that arrived for pick-up, as reported by state broadcaster ERT. 

Forty passengers travelling from the northern port city of Thessaloniki to the western town of Ioannina were left stranded in intense snowstorm on Friday evening after their long-distance KTEL bus broke down. 

Kifissos Avenue will shut down temporarily in the direction toward Piraeus on Thursday and Friday due to roadworks, Greek police said on Tuesday.

Traffic will shut down on the right-hand lane on Kifissos Avenue, 250 meters before the exit to Agias Annis Street and until the exit, at midnight through 6 a.m. on Thursday, and at 10 p.m. the same day through 6 a.m. on Friday.

Passengers are seen waiting to board an intercity bus (KTEL) at the central station on Kifissos Avenue in Athens on Saturday. August marks the peak season for Greeks' departure on summer vacations, heading to destinations both on the mainland and the country's islands.

Serious damage to the underground bed of the Kifissos River in Athens has been identified by a team of speleologists. 

The team was conducting an underground expedition and had reached a section beneath the Kifissou KTEL bus terminal, when they came across a hill of trash and debris as well as a lake that may have formed as a result of the bottom being destroyed. 

An extra budget of 18.3 million euros for Greece's urban buses and intercity coaches (KTEL) was announced by Transport and Infrastructure Minister Christos Staikouras on Friday.

This sizable subsidy also concerns local coach operators in the country's remote regions, he added, speaking at the 29th KTEL annual convention in the city of Lamia, central Greece.

The Athens Urban Transport Organization (OASA) is planning for the conversion of bank cards into public transport tickets, following the example of other European states that have adopted such services in recent years.

Bus and trolleybus workers will stage a new work stoppage for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, demanding safe and quality public transport. 

The work stoppage will last from the start of the shift until 9 a.m. and from 9 p.m. until the end of the shift. 

Buses will run normally on the routes assigned to the privately operated KTEL intercity buses.