Caught in Athens Taxi Strike
Jul 26th, 2011 | 09:01 AM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 849
Likes: 0
Caught in Athens Taxi Strike
During a tour to Olympia on Sunday, 17 July, our taxi driver advised us there was to be a taxi strike in all of Greece beginning the following day in response to the transport minister's decision to change taxi licensing requirements at the height of the tourism season. We had a taxi tour booked on Thursday, 21 July. On Monday, we called John Arvanitakis of
athens-taxi.org. He told us it was by no means certain that the strike would last through Thursday, but that he would not leave us stranded.
On Wednesday afternoon, talks between the union and the transport minister broke down. (We were on board Oceania Nautica, and the cruise line did a magnificent job of keeping passengers informed. They also managed to put on extra buses to the airport and set up a shuttle service to hotels, thus getting every passenger who needed help to their immediate post-cruise destination.) We called John, and he confirmed that he had arranged a bus to pick us up, along with passengers from Celebrity and MSC for our half day tour and transfer to the hotel.
On Thursday, the bus picked us and the other passengers up on time, did our half day tour, (George, the driver, was exceptionally pleasant and attentive.) and dropped us at our hotel on time. On Saturday, a we were picked up as originally scheduled, taken to the airport, left at the car rental return to avoid enforcers at the departures level, and made our plane on time.
I think I am as willing as most posters in this forum to complain about a problem. It is a pleasure to be able to commend a vendor for reliability, thoughtfulness and kind attention to our anxieties for a change.
athens-taxi.org. He told us it was by no means certain that the strike would last through Thursday, but that he would not leave us stranded.
On Wednesday afternoon, talks between the union and the transport minister broke down. (We were on board Oceania Nautica, and the cruise line did a magnificent job of keeping passengers informed. They also managed to put on extra buses to the airport and set up a shuttle service to hotels, thus getting every passenger who needed help to their immediate post-cruise destination.) We called John, and he confirmed that he had arranged a bus to pick us up, along with passengers from Celebrity and MSC for our half day tour and transfer to the hotel.
On Thursday, the bus picked us and the other passengers up on time, did our half day tour, (George, the driver, was exceptionally pleasant and attentive.) and dropped us at our hotel on time. On Saturday, a we were picked up as originally scheduled, taken to the airport, left at the car rental return to avoid enforcers at the departures level, and made our plane on time.
I think I am as willing as most posters in this forum to complain about a problem. It is a pleasure to be able to commend a vendor for reliability, thoughtfulness and kind attention to our anxieties for a change.
Jul 26th, 2011 | 10:15 AM
#4
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 149
Likes: 0
My husband and I got caught in the strike on Monday am at 5am on our way to the airport - after an hour of crawling along (and me hyperventilating) we finally made it through - luckily the flight crew was somewhere behind us in the mess and were later than we were! The flight took off 1.5 hrs late, but everyone seemed to have made it on board since the plane was full.
I am glad we left at the beginning of the strike since it sounds like it got worse as the week went on. I can only imagine what a disaster Piraeus must have been. I'm also glad that you had such a good experience with John.
I am glad we left at the beginning of the strike since it sounds like it got worse as the week went on. I can only imagine what a disaster Piraeus must have been. I'm also glad that you had such a good experience with John.
Jul 26th, 2011 | 10:54 AM
#5
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 574
Likes: 0
I'm glad you still managed to have everything arranged for you!
The taxi strike is still going on, but they are no longer mass blocking roads & access to ports & airports, instead they have targetted various sites, which has a real beneficial effect for tourists. Access to them is fine & some free because of their presence! Also they have been parking up at the side of the road by the tolls & waving cars through, again with no payment! The ongoing strike is not much of a problem in Athens as there is such a good public transport system, but it is more noticeable here in the rural areas (where I am), although I have to say they are being inventive with ways round it when necessary!
The taxi strike is still going on, but they are no longer mass blocking roads & access to ports & airports, instead they have targetted various sites, which has a real beneficial effect for tourists. Access to them is fine & some free because of their presence! Also they have been parking up at the side of the road by the tolls & waving cars through, again with no payment! The ongoing strike is not much of a problem in Athens as there is such a good public transport system, but it is more noticeable here in the rural areas (where I am), although I have to say they are being inventive with ways round it when necessary!
