The Athens City Center Ring comes into effect from Monday, October 10, 2022 until Friday, July 21, 2023, making changes to the way vehicles operate.

According to a joint ministerial decision of the Ministers of Environment and Energy, Protection of Citizens, State and Infrastructure and Transport, the following persons are exempt from restrictions and can freely enter the center of Athens:

– Pure electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, natural gas and LPG vehicles.

– EURO 6 vehicles, excluding the above drive technologies, if they emit less than 120 g/km of carbon dioxide. (combined cycle price according to the New European Driving Cycle /NEDC) that were first classified in a Member State of the European Union before 31/12/2020.

– EURO 6 vehicles, excluding the above drive technologies, if they emit less than 145 g/km of carbon dioxide. (combined cycle price according to the Worldwide Light Test procedure/WLTP) which are classified for the first time in a Member State of the European Union from 01/01/2021.

How to give a traffic light?

Owners of the above vehicles must obtain a special badge through gov.gr in order to freely move around the ring.

They will need:

Your personal TAXISnet passwords

Vehicle registration number

TIN of the owner/company that owns the vehicle. The special mark carries a unique verification identification number to verify the content of the document.

We remind you that permanent residents of the center of Athens, who have a permanent place of residence within the ring, have the opportunity to freely enter and leave it with a special card issued by the competent services of the Municipality of Athens. These cars will move in pre-defined zones, depending on the owner’s place of residence, along the shortest path to and from the place of residence (for entering/exiting the Ring and back).

The right of free passage also has:

Vehicles of doctors (with a special badge), physiotherapists, disabled war veterans, patients in need of frequent treatment (have a relevant certificate from the hospital), as well as vehicles driven or transporting disabled people, provided that the disabled person is equipped with a parking ticket for people with disabilities .

At the same time, cars carrying medicines and sensitive medical materials, as well as hearses and training cars of professional instructors, whose headquarters are located inside the ring, can enter the ring.

Exceptions also apply to vehicles of government departments, local governments, organizations or public utilities with special registration numbers or visible signs of these services, for heads of foreign diplomatic missions, press representatives with media restrictions.

As a reminder, we have also drastically reduced license exceptions for parties, MEPs, MEPs, ministers, deputy ministers, general secretaries, etc. who are responsible for setting a “good example”.

Permits for free traffic on the ring (which are not related to the type of vehicle, but to the status of their driver) are issued after the beneficiaries apply to the Attica Traffic Authority.

Call hours and days

The alternating traffic ring will operate from Monday to Thursday from 07:00 to 20:00 and on Friday from 07:00 to 15:00. On Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays, as well as on days when workers are on strike on all public transport, the measures do not apply. On even (even) dates, cars with registration numbers ending in 0,2,4,6,8 are produced, and on odd (odd) dates – cars with license plates ending in 1,3,5,7,9.

Ring borders

The actual area concerns the area surrounded by streets: “L. Alexandras – Zakharov – L. Mesogion – Phidippidou – Michalakopoulou – Spiro Mercury – Vriaxidos – Imittu – Il Helios – Andr. Franci – L. Andr. Sygru – Hamosternas – Piraeus – Iera Odos – Konstantinoupoleos Street – Achilleos – Karaiskakis Square – Karolou – Marni-October 28 (Patesion) – Alexander Street. Restrictive measures do not apply to border boulevards and streets of the Small Ring.

As for holders of last year’s ring permits, the Ministry of Citizens’ Protection indicates that a period of ten working days is given for their renewal. Until then, there will be flexibility in testing with the presentation of last year’s permission to enter the ring.

Fine

Violators of these restrictive measures are punished in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 6 of article 52 of the Road Code with an administrative fine of 100 euros (as amended in conjunction with article 31 of Law 3904/2010 (Α΄) 218) .

Source: RES-IPE