Athens : Financing / Pricing data / Future developments

The sources of funding for the OASA Group in terms of operating costs, include:

I. Revenue from Fares

Fares are fundamental to the operation of public transport since they form the primary source of income for the OASA Group. The fare system Is formed by OASA S.A, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. Below is presented the fare system which includes several ticket categories and unlimited travel cards. Starting in 2017, a smart card electronic ticketing system was introduced in the Athens public transport network, replacing the older paper tickets and cards.
Currently here are 3 types of Transport tickets:

  • The Ath.ena Ticket: All short-term regular products used for the urban zone, the respective package offers and the airport tickets can be purchased through the Ath.ena Ticket.
  • The personalized Ath.ena Card: The personalized ATH.ENA card bears the photo, the full name and contains data on its holder profile, such as whether they are eligible for a discount fare of fare-free use of public transport as well as which is the validity term of this entitlement. All short-term and long-term fare products may be loaded on the personalized Ath.ena Card.
  • The anonymous Ath.ena Card: Anonymous ATH. ENA Card does not bear the personal data of its holder. All short-term regular products used for the urban zone, the respective package offers, the airport tickets and stored monetary value up to €50.
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II. Revenue from State Subsidies

The annual budget of the OASA Group specifies the intended financial results, that in turn will determine the amount of state subsidies. The latter are not admissible to an increase beyond a maximum amount which is equal to 40% of the operating costs (before depreciations) of the Group.

III. Other sources of revenues

The OASA Group apart from the fares and the State Subsidies, generates income to cover operating costs by exploiting its assets (transport modes, station areas, parking lots etc.) for advertising and rental purposes to third parties.

Overall, a 2% of the total revenue of the operators (OSY S.A & STASY S.A) from the provision of transport services (fares, government subsidies, other revenue streams) is attributed to OASA S.A for covering its operating costs. This percentage can be adjusted after a joint decision of the Ministers of Finance and Infrastructure and Transport. Operating cost includes staff salaries, fuel and maintenance cost, third-party services and various other expenses.


The sources of funding for the OASA Group in terms of investment
costs, include:

  • Revenue from Public Investment Programs (National and Co-financed Programs i.e National Development Program (NDP) & National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF))
  • Own Resources (small-scale investments)

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Are services tendered or directly awarded?

I. Type of award envisaged for OSY S.A

Direct award for the provision of public transport services by road Services and areas covered by the award;

OASA S.A. awards OSY S.A. and the latter accepts the exclusive right and obligation to perform passenger public transport services by road as well as complementary related services (sales of all fare types and controls of valid ticket validation controls) within the limits of Attica Region as defined by Law 3852/2010 except for the Attika islands. The award concerns the provision of public transport by road (buses, trolley buses and other means of road transport) on the basis of Important Performance and Quality Indicators for the assessment of service implementation for a specific amount of compensatory payment for the respective services provided by OSY S.A. in accordance with Law 3920/2011 and REGULATION (EC) No 1370/2007.


II. Type of award envisaged for STASY S.A

Direct award for the provision of public transport services by urban rail and tram Services and areas potentially covered by the award;

OASA S.A. awards STASY S.A. and the latter accepts the exclusive right and obligation to perform passenger public transport services by urban rail and tram and complementary related services (sales of all fare types, and controls of valid ticket validation controls, as well as the provision of additional services that can be mutually agreed between the Contracting Parties) within the limits of Attica Region as defined by Law 3852/2010 except for the Attika islands. The award concerns the provision of public transport by urban rail and tram on the basis of Important Performance and Quality Indicators for the assessment of service implementation for a specific amount of compensatory payment for the respective services provided by STASY S.A. in accordance with Law 3920/2011 and REGULATION (EC) No 1370/2007.
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Ongoing and future development projects.

Athens faces vital urban challenges concerning traffic congestion, traffic safety, pollution and citizen’s health. Congestion appears in most primary and secondary roads, while illegal parking and other public space violations are common in the central district.

As a remedy to the above, Athenian municipalities have developed sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMP – significantly delayed to develop and implement) that will be implemented in the upcoming years, aiming to change the social behavior towards public transport. Additionally, within the next year the “Athens Strategic Transport Plan” is scheduled with a time horizon of 20 years. The Strategic transport plan will include proposals of operational measures, infrastructure proposals as well as smart technology innovation projects and will be conducted by OASA S.A.

As far as the urban transport’s infrastructure is concerned, an extended route of 5,3 km of tram line was launched in 2022, while three new metro stations in the municipality of Piraeus (Maniatika, Piraeus & Dimotiko Theatro), will be inaugurated within 2023, upgrading the existing metro services of Line 3. This will result to an extended transport cohesion and connectivity from the prime harbor of Athens to other destinations including the airport.

In parallel to the construction works in Metro Line 3, a novel metro Line (Line 4) is currently under construction. Construction of the line started in mid to late-2021 and is scheduled to be completed in 2029 or 2030. The future metro line will run from Alsos Veikou to Goudi, connecting densely populated areas of central Athens, like Galatsi, Exarheia, Kolonaki, Kaisariani and Zografou amongst others. Initially the length of the line will be 11.9 km and will comprise 15 metro stations. In the distant future, it will be extended further north to Ethniki Odos and to other important suburbs of Athens, like Marousi.

Furthermore, with regards to passenger public transport services by road, urban rail and tram, OASA S.A along with its two subsidiaries and the Greek Government are promoting the reinforcement, renovation and renewal of their fleet. More particularly, within 2021, the addition of 25 new modern tram trains was completed while currently, 14 trains of Metro Line 1 are being fully refurbished in order to extend their lifetime for another 15 to 20 years.

Respectively, since the 4th quarter of 2020, OASA has been in collaboration with Intercity Bus Company (KTEL) of Attica awarding to the latter regional bus routes in order to increase service frequencies and reduce occupancy rates, amidst of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of this collaboration, 200 more city buses as well as 550 more drivers are on service on a daily basis. Added to the latter initiative, another 293 environmentally friendly («EURO V») bus vehicles have been added to OSY’s fleet through leasing, within the 2021-2022 interval.

Apart from the investments undertaken to extend the urban transport network as well as to renew and upgrade the operational fleets of its two subsidiaries, OASA is promoting the digital transformation of the Group. Acknowledging the immense capabilities of the new digital technologies, OASA is currently promoting several initiatives to further enhance the provided customer services. Amongst these initiatives are:

  • EMV contactless solutions (Use of bank cards / mobile devices as purchase / validation means of Automatic Fare Collection System): The rise in card payments lead to a shift in consumer behavior, as technological developments promote contactless transactions and payments through smart phones (digital money). Contactless transactions either through cards or via mobile have gained the trust of passengers and will dominate, at public transport systems. In this respect, OASA has initiated discussions for the implementation of an EMV solution. The proposed solution is based on developing a specialized application that will run on the provider’s special Secure Access Module (VSAM) equipment which will be placed at the gates of metro stations, as well as on vehicle validators in order to add the automatic option of contactless payments. VSAM will enable OASA to offer boarding passengers the ability to use their contactless transaction card, device or mobile device quickly and with maximum security, upgrading the support and services provided to the Group’s passengers.
  • Chatbot: Creation of a Virtual Assistant platform to serve citizens. OASA Group, in order to upgrade the support and information it provides to its passengers, is proceeding with the creation of a tool to assist communication with citizens, which is based on modern machine learning and language processing algorithms. It is an automated question-and-answer system (intelligent digital dialogue program) that interacts with the user by understanding and responding to comments and questions posed in written language, promoting thus and enhancing interactive and direct communication.
  • Digitized Student Card (providing access to OASA’s transport network): 
    a) concerns the inclusion of the sales and validation functions of the Automatic Fare Collection System in the new academic identities of University students. The implementation concerns the integration of the functionality of the “ATHENACard” into the academic identity card and the interconnection of the academic identity card with the Automatic Fare Collection System of OASA, in order to allow students who want to travel at OASA’s urban network, to use the academic IDs for their movements
    b) provides automated renewal of travel rights for the holders of personalized cards with student characteristics. A special application and website is being created to check the validity of the academic identity and confirm the status of the student, when issuing new Ath.ena cards, as well as when renewing and replacing their old students’ cards.
  • Establishment of a Digital Transformation Index: The Digital Transformation Index (DTI) is a custom designed index by our shareholder (HCAP), which aims to record the digital maturity of the OASA Group and to aid in monitoring the progress of digital transformation projects and targets.


Finally, OASA has extensive experience in the area of sustainable urban mobility through its participation in a plethora of international research projects over the years. Currently OASA is participating in the following European research projects.


HARMONY (Holistic Approach for Providing Spatial & Transport Planning Tools and Evidence to Metropolitan and Regional Authorities to Lead a Sustainable Transition to a New Mobility Era)

  • O.A.S.A. participates in the European Project “HARMONY”, which is part of the Horizon 2020 program, in the axis of Societal Challenges and in the field of “Smart, green and integrated transport” (Sustainable multi-modal inter-urban transport, regional mobility and spatial planning .ID: LC-MG-1-2-2018). The “HARMONY” Project has a duration of 42 months (starting date of June 1, 2019) while the budget for O.A.S.A. amounts to 177,473.05 euros. The HARMONY project ends in February 2022.
  • The aim of the Project is to support metropolitan authorities, transport operators and providers of new mobility services by creating a set of state-of-the-art standards/models (HARMONY Suite) that will quantify the multidimensional impacts of different transport policy measures on sustainability, on the well-being of citizens and on economic development. The Athens pilot application (OASA) includes, among other, an analysis and evaluation of measures for the 
    a) implementation of electrification in public transport modes, 
    b) autonomous vehicles 
    c) implementation of micromobility 
    d) effects of the redevelopment project in Elliniko.

IP4MaaS – Shift2Rail -Innovation Programme 4 to support the deployment of Mobility as a Service (2020-2023)

  • O.A.S.A. participates in the European Project “IP4MaaS – Shift2Rail, through the Horizon 2020 program, in the axis of Societal Challenges and in the field of “Supporting the implementation of the IP4 ecosystem”. The European Project has a duration of 36 months, with a starting date of November 1, 2020, and its total budget amounts to 2.5 million euros.
  • Within IP4 more than 10 projects have created a wide array of technologies that tackles carious aspects of traveller experience. Those technologies tackle the interoperability of Transport Service Providers’ (TSPs) services, travel shopping, booking & ticketing, trip tracking, travel companion technologies and business analytics. Various tools have been tested in various locations around Europe retrieved user feedback and improved upon the feedback. Today, IP4 has a large toolset of proven technologies that need to go to the next level; become ready to be implemented in large scale products. IP4MaaS will assist IP4 projects to demonstrate the technologies at an unprecedented level: 6 different locations in Europe including more than 10 transport operators (Public Transport and Mobility-as-a-Service), authorities and agencies.
  • IP4MaaS will develop the scenarios for the demonstrations and a thorough assessment strategy for the demonstrations that tackles both the performance of the demonstrations as well as the impact of the technologies on users and the
    environment in urban and suburban setups. IP4MaaS will create strategic plans for the demonstrations that will be updated in two iterations leading to two demonstration phases. Furthermore, the project will provide recommendations regarding the promotion and transferability of the technologies to other locations in Europe. IP4MaaS will organize and monitor one of the largest demonstrations of technologies in European project’s history and expects its findings to be used as a baseline for future demonstrations and testing that involves a diverse group of demo partners.

FRONTIER (Next generation traffic management for empowering CAVs integration, cross-stakeholders collaboration and proactive multi-modal network optimization) (M1-M36)

  • O.A.S.A. participates in the European Project “FRONTIER” (“Next generation traffic management for empowering CAVs integration, cross-stakeholders collaboration and proactive multi-modal network optimization”), through the Horizon 2020 program, in the axis of Societal Challenges and in the field of “Smart, green and integrated transport” with the theme “Network and traffic management for future mobility” (Network and traffic management for future mobility. ID: MG-2-11-2020). The European Project “FRONTIER” has a duration of 36 months, with a starting date of May 1, 2021, and the budget for O.A.S.A. amounts to 100,625 euros.
  • The “FRONTIER” project aims to provide networks and integrated traffic management strategies for the future, taking into account new types and means of transport as well as automated vehicles, while opts to minimize pollution, traffic congestion, and mobility costs for all users (both citizens and public authorities and businesses) as well as to reduce accidents. On an operational level, the “FRONTIER” project will facilitate the transition to resilient, multimodal and autonomous mobility by establishing collaboration schemes and arbitration processes between stakeholders, while it will also develop business models which will examine the commercial viability of the proposed solutions.

CONDUCTOR (Fleet and traffic management systems for conducting future cooperative mobility) (M1-M36)

  • O.A.S.A. participates in the European Project “CONDUCTOR”, which will be financed by the framework program Horizon Europe in the category “Safe, Resilient Transport and Smart Mobility services for passengers and goods” and more specifically in the thematic section “Integrate CCAM services in fleet and traffic management systems (CCAM Partnership). The “CONDUCTOR” Project has a proposed duration of 36 months and the budget for O.A.S.A. amounts to 101,250.00 Euros. The project is in the process of signing the grant agreement.
  • The project’s main objective is to design, integrate and demonstrate advanced traffic and fleet management at a high level, which will enable the efficient and optimal transport of passengers and goods while ensuring seamless multimodality and interoperability. The CONDUCTOR project will build on state-of-the-art fleet and traffic management solutions in the Collaborative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) ecosystem and aims to develop next generation simulation models and tools that will enhance the capabilities of competent bodies and of transport providers allowing them in turn to become “conductors” of future mobility networks.

PISTIS (Promoting and Incentivizing Federated, Trusted, and Fair Sharing and
Trading of Interoperable Data Assets) (Μ1-Μ42)

  • O.A.S.A. participates in the proposal for the European Project “PISTIS”, which was submitted and approved for funding by the Horizon Europe framework program in 
    the category “WORLD LEADING DATA AND COMPUTING TECHNOLOGIES 2022” and more specifically in the thematic section “Technologies and solutions for data trading, monetizing, exchange and interoperability” (HORIZON-CL4-2022-DATA-01-04).
  • The project aims to develop a data space processing data from incoming traffic at airports to improve procedures. As part of the project, a pilot application is planned in Athens. The budget for O.A.S.A. amounts to 146,125.00 Euros.
  • Pilot application in Athens includes: Exploitation of data exchanged between various sources such as the airport (AIA) and the City of Athens (DAEM) to improve the overall transport planning of OASA, enabling in turn the development of services which are capable of predicting the accuracy of transport loads within the day. In addition, in the same scenario the results of the analysis will be fed back to the stakeholders such as the airport and the city of Athens, to allow them in turn to improve the services provided to commuters or to third parties with which they cooperate (such as dutyfree shops, local businesses of the city, etc.)

EBRT2030 (European Bus Rapid Transit of 2030: electrified, automated, connected) (Μ1-Μ48)

  • O.A.S.A. participates in the proposal for the European Project “eBRT2030”, which was submitted and approved for funding by the Horizon Europe framework program in the category “Clean and competitive solutions for all transport modes” and more specifically in the thematic section “New generation of fully electric urban and periurban Bus Rapid Transit systems to strengthen climate-friendly mass transport 
    (2ZERO). HORIZON-CL5-2022-D5-01-10’. The budget for O.A.S.A. amounts to
    332,250.00 Euros.
  • As part of the project, a pilot application is planned in Athens. More specifically, the e-BRT line to be piloted aims, to present an innovative hybrid charging concept, which will attempt to exploit the existing overhead trolley network in order to achieve e-BRT ’opportunity charging’. The e-BRT line will connect the Sygrou-Fix metro station in the center of Athens with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center on the Athenian Riviera. The eBRT will provide an efficient and zero-emission CO2 transport connection to the SNFCC and to other points of interest, along the road axis of Sygrou Boulevard. It will also provide an additional electrified high-level service connection to the Athens public transport system. The terminals of the line will be connected in the north with the metro (Sygrou-Fix station) and in the south with the tram that operates along the Athenian coastline. In this way, the system will enable the rapid access to the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center and to the Athenian coastline, through the use of fully “electric” public transport modes.