General Information About Ktel
1896 the first 14-seat bus, manufacted in France, appears on Athens-Thiva route. The urban and long distance services were simple until 1920 when owners offered transportation services without the government supervision.
1937 introduced the first urban and long distance destinations. Therefore, 1937 is the year considered as the beginning of transportation services under government supervision.
1952 with Law 2119/1952, KTEL (Transportation Bus Public Fund) was established in every region of the country with certain individual acts for each area. Initially, KTEL had 104 buses of which, 59 for long distance and 45 urban.
1967 the 6 urban services in Attika region were amalgamated to 1, the 45 long distance services, covering the main land and Crete island, to 8 services, and remaining 53 kept their original dependability. Later the long distance services were united, but never worked out……. Thus, in
1973 under Law 102/1973, the final KTEL act was established, as it is know the last decate. The development of social and economic standards were the cause of changes of KTEL from a social aim in the form of a “unique forced partnership” to Share Companies for transportation, tourism and commercial services. This was occurred in
2001 under Law 2963/2001, KTEL were transformed to Share Companies.
Today there are 61 KTEL centers offering services throughout the country, transporting about 180 million passengers a year. Every region has its own KTEL center with specific itineraries.
KTEL is under the Ministry of Communications control and each region governor. They are managed by elected Board of Directors and operating as every Share Company. Although KTEL companies are private, they are social and public entestablishments, and the government determines the transportation cost (ticket cost) thus offering exclusive benefits of transportation services.
