The increased needs of passenger movement have led to the use of articulated buses (“double buses”) on the roads, for which the company “KTEL Chania – Rethymno SA”, among other things, recommends the mass movement of students in a minimum period of time.

The routing of this type of bus, 18 meters long, is found in many regions of the country, including the two megacities of Crete – Chania and Heraklion – where, among other things, university institutions also operate. According to the KTEL administration, “the reasons that force their routing are due to many factors, including the morphology of the city, but also the increased passenger needs recorded daily in Rethymno, due to students and tourists”.

The KTEL Chania-Rethymnon cites the characteristic example of the mass movement of students in a minimal period of time (with “tight” deviations) from various areas of the city to the Gallos campus. “So when KTEL is called by the University of Crete to transport e.g. from 8.00 to 8.30 in the morning about 2500 students on campus for their academic needs (as their teaching hours have very specific frameworks), then how will he respond if he doesn’t run the articulated buses? And this is because it is considered impossible to group the students, so that their transportation starts gradually from 6 in the morning with smaller buses, or when there is a mass departure of students from the Gallo campus”, says the company’s management.

In addition, as pointed out in response to citizens’ questions, mainly about the large volume of specific articulated buses, “…if articulated buses are withdrawn and smaller ones are introduced in their place, then the expense will automatically increase, and the cost will inevitably burden the pocket of the passenger public”. At the same time, it is emphasized that the use of the specific buses is less expensive for passengers, since “today the ticket price is informally uniform for the urban line from Missiria to the University of France, due to the aforementioned buses. If shorter ones are launched for the same line, then in addition to the nightmare of transfers (which entails extra buses on the city streets every day) and the price of the ticket will be doubled, since the route will be ‘broken’ in two. That is, one route will be Missiria, Perivolia, Kallithea, center and the other route will be from the center to the Gallos campus. A corresponding ‘break’ in the route will also be recorded on the Rethymno – Panormos line, where it will also be necessary for citizens to transfer to another bus”.