[reshz]

Hello everyone, my name is Mikhail, I am a transport enthusiast from Russia, and am the editor of the Russian website Fotobus. After several trips to Greece, I became interested in local transport, but there is not much information in the public domain. I'd like to ask you a few questions:

1. Is it possible to find out information on the bus, having its license plate? I asked this question from several people, but they answered me that it is possible to do this only through an "operator" - as I understand it, this is not available for an ordinary person?
I found documents for insurance of buses of municipalities, where in addition to all VIN and the year was written. Can I find this information on the buses of any municipality?

2. Are there lists of all KTEL and AKTEL somewhere? I'm not sure if all KTELs are displayed in the gallery... I am also interested in any information on them - when they were created, what routes they serve, etc. I will be glad for any information that you can provide me!

3. Are there any lists of KTEL or AKTEL buses? I have several lists, but they are not as complete as I would like, maybe some KTEL have separate lists compiled by enthusiasts? I saw pages on the forum where AKTEL buses are discussed (replacements, new buses, etc.), but since everything is in Greek, putting everything together is too difficult for me.
If you have information about any specific AKTEL with the dates of replacement / addition of buses, then it would be very useful for me!

I have a lot of specific questions about certain KTEL and some buses, and I would like to ask about them, but it would be much easier for me to do it by e-mail.
I will be glad for any help that will help me understand the transport of Greece! I just started filling out the Greece page on the Fotobus, my beginnings can be viewed here: http://fotobus.msk.ru/city/174 . I haven't added much information yet, but if you find any inaccuracies, please write to me about it!

Thanks a lot in advance for any help and information you can give me. If you can email me - reshzz@ya.ru . And, of course, if you are interested in something about Russian transport, you can ask me about it - I will do my best

Thanks,
Mikhail

[Giannis]

Welcome to leoforeia.gr Mikhail! I hope we can assist you in your task in Fotobus, I am already aware of this site.

1. Is it possible to find out information on the bus, having its license plate? I asked this question from several people, but they answered me that it is possible to do this only through an "operator" - as I understand it, this is not available for an ordinary person?
I found documents for insurance of buses of municipalities, where in addition to all VIN and the year was written. Can I find this information on the buses of any municipality?

By having the license plate of a bus you can understand roughly two things a) when it started to be used in Greece and b) where it is registered. The first two letters of a licence plate are distinctive of the prefecture, the third letter and the numbers show when it was registered. Please note that the third letter is following the sequence of the Greek alphabet, for example ΑΚΖ-3879 was registered earlier than ΑΚΗ-4375 as Z is between E and H in Greek, not the last letter as in many other alphabets. You can find more information on this in this wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_re...signations

That's all the information you can get publicly from the licence plate. You can't find the model or the year of manufacture or other specific information on a vehicle with the license plate, you have to ask the operator as you said.

As far as the buses of municipalities are concerned, I rely mostly on the same documents to find the VIN of these buses too. Unfortunately the availability of the VIN is depending on the municipality, some municipalities upload this information on the web, others don't do so. You can take a look on the gallery of the buses of the municipalities, some of these buses have their VIN already filled in.

2. Are there lists of all KTEL and AKTEL somewhere? I'm not sure if all KTELs are displayed in the gallery... I am also interested in any information on them - when they were created, what routes they serve, etc. I will be glad for any information that you can provide me!

As far as KTEL and Urban KTEL are concerned, the information on the gallery is quite accurate. Typically, each prefecture in mainland Greece has one KTEL (except for Viotia where there are two KTEL in this prefecture). Large islands have their own KTEL too, except from Crete. You can find some information about the various KTEL in their Union website: https://ktelbus.com/en/category/ktel/?cn-reloaded=1

Only KTEL of Kos and Karpathos are missing from the list. There are also no KTEL in Kalimnos and Sifnos. Information about their routes and history can be found on their websites, not every website is detailed though. By clicking on the link above, you can find links to their websites. Some islands' KTEL do not have a website.

3. Are there any lists of KTEL or AKTEL buses? I have several lists, but they are not as complete as I would like, maybe some KTEL have separate lists compiled by enthusiasts? I saw pages on the forum where AKTEL buses are discussed (replacements, new buses, etc.), but since everything is in Greek, putting everything together is too difficult for me.

If you have information about any specific AKTEL with the dates of replacement / addition of buses, then it would be very useful for me!

Indeed there are some lists of KTEL and Urban KTEL buses on the website but not every list is up-to-date unfortunately. You can check the date of the posts that contain the lists to see if they are old or new. What information would you like to know? Other members may assist you in this question more than what I can do.

[reshz]

Giannis, thank you for the answer!

>By having the license plate of a bus you can understand roughly two things a) when it started to be used in Greece
Where can I find the years when certain license plates were issued? I looked at the Wikipedia page you sent me, in English and Greek, but I didn't find any dates there...

What is the "operator"? I've only heard the word, but I don't know what it means. Do I need to send an official request with a reason for my interest? Is this some kind of government agency?

>You can find some information about the various KTEL in their Union website: https://ktelbus.com/en/category/ktel/?cn-reloaded=1
Thank you for the link! I think it will be useful for me

>What information would you like to know?
I am particularly interested in AKTEL Patras and Heraklion
I found a lot of information on the forum (especially about Patras), but it was on dozens of pages of Greek text, which is why many details are unclear to me. I would like to write in detail, but I do not know where to do it better-in the AKTEL Patras thread or here, so that this post can be seen by people who have information? For example, for Patras, I am interested in license plates # 2, # 56, # 72 (as well as the model of the latter). I am also interested in the model and any information about this bus: http://fotobus.msk.ru/photo/2572076 . Who can I write to personally, who has information about buses in these cities?

Thanks!

[Giannis]

Where can I find the years when certain license plates were issued? I looked at the Wikipedia page you sent me, in English and Greek, but I didn't find any dates there...

What is the "operator"? I've only heard the word, but I don't know what it means. Do I need to send an official request with a reason for my interest? Is this some kind of government agency?

No, there are no dates listed in these articles, I wrote generally about the information you can obtain from a license plate. It is complex to know when a license plate was issued, it depends on how many vehicles are registered. Personally, I have a sense of which license plates combinations are used now from what I read in the forum or from what I see in social media but about older license plates I have no information, it is difficult to get such information.

Tip: You will notice that some vehicles have larger license plates with a blue rectangle on one side, these are issued after 2004-2005. License plates before this date lack the blue rectangle

The "operator" is the company that uses a bus fleet to provide transportation service. Mosgortrans for example is the operator of bus and trolleybus services in Moscow. In Athens urban buses are operated by OSY (Odikes Sygkoinonies), in other cities by Urban KTEL. Long distance bus routes are operated by KTEL.

I am particularly interested in AKTEL Patras and Heraklion
I found a lot of information on the forum (especially about Patras), but it was on dozens of pages of Greek text, which is why many details are unclear to me. I would like to write in detail, but I do not know where to do it better-in the AKTEL Patras thread or here, so that this post can be seen by people who have information? For example, for Patras, I am interested in license plates # 2, # 56, # 72 (as well as the model of the latter). I am also interested in the model and any  information about this bus: http://fotobus.msk.ru/photo/2572076 . Who can I write to personally, who has information about buses in these cities?

You can write your question in the corresponding thread, as you already did.

[reshz]

I got it, thanks!