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Transport. The lessons about transport from Sydney were to maximise the
use of public transportation, to minimise the use of private cars, especially in the
vicinity of the venues, to develop an efficient transportation schedule and to
always test the operational plan. Sandy said that before. Being in close contact
with the Unions, the Labour Unions, so as to avoid surprises; so as to avoid
surprises basically just before the Games, which is the most unpleasant surprise.
And we took a number of actions. I said before that we developed a plan for
Athens, which has a dispersion of the Olympic venues. So, we have to develop a
wide and well-integrated, multi-modal transportation system with the use of buses,
the metro, the tramway and the suburban rail. And, if I go directly to the map,
which is this, these again are the major Olympic poles, the airport, the area of the
coastal zone of Athens, the Equestrian Centre, the new airport of Athens, where
you landed, the Maroussi Olympic Complex, the Olympic Village. And this is the
transport task, that is how these will be linked to one another, and this is being
complemented by this map which shows the highways that are being constructed
in Athens, so as to have full access from the airport directly through a dedicated
highway to the area of Maroussi where the main Olympic poles exist. And again
a number of highways which allow the free and, let's say with less obstacles
transfer of the visitors and the athletes from the one spot to the other. It is a
massive construction programme. It is being progressing well, although with
difficulties, because you have to construct new avenues or new streets in the city,
in a populated city, and this needs a number of expropriations, which is again
a very good lesson. If you are ever in the process of organising games, avoid
projects, which need expropriations.
It is always a difficult process and creates a lot of social concerns. And these
are the rail projects. The Athens metro is the yellowish line, the new and the old
one, the bluish one is the old urban train and the orange line is the suburban rail
which is under construction and it will link the airport of Athens with the Olympic
venues and will go over Athens. So, somebody who wants to go to Athens, he
has to go up to the north, he does not have to go in the city, and then interchange
either with the metro or the light train, which exist up to the north, and come
down to the city. And these again are under construction. They are major projects;
they are legacy for the city of Athens after the Games. And again this is the light
train, which is also to be constructed.
Obviously, Athens is for us a city with a lot of history and we want the
historical environment to be preserved and the look of the city to comply
with all the archaeological issues we have elements in Athens. So, we had a
number of lessons from Sydney, although Sydney is not a historical city in the
same sense as Athens, it is historical, but not in the same, let's say, world length.
We use the Olympic Games as a vehicle for the improvement of the look
of the city, to renovate buildings, wherever this is possible, together with the
local authorities and municipalities, and to integrate important areas of the
city to the Olympic life. And the latter is very important, because you want
the city to be lively. The city cannot be quiet and absent in some parts of it.
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