Not even for… sample there is no taxi in Rhodes for those who want to move! Especially at the airport ‘Diagoras’ daily and especially during rush hours with the constant arrivals, it is almost impossible to find a taxi, resulting in long queues of travelers waiting to be served.
The situation has worsened in the last week as arrivals at the airport have literally ‘exploded’ and our visitors are waiting for a long time to be served for their journeys.
There is, of course, the alternative of the IES RODA buses coming and going full and helping traffic.
If one chooses to call a taxi at the call centre, the average wait can exceed one hour (!) and many customers now complain about this.
Asked by “Demetiki” to comment on this suffocating situation, as it has been created, the president of the Association of Rhodes Airport Taxi Owners Rhodes Mr. Theodosis Kastanidis, clarified the following:
“At certain times, we do indeed have a serious problem in serving our customers and foreign visitors. This is due to two reasons: firstly, people prefer taxis because they avoid being crowded in buses and secondly, we observe a lack of organization in the agencies. In busy periods there used to be 200 tourist buses and now we only see about 20… People prefer taxis. Nevertheless, we are trying to serve the needs on the island despite the heavy traffic and the very high demand.
Of course, the problem with traffic to and from the airport ‘Diagoras’ is getting worse from today! Because the Kremasti Fair has opened, the roads are closed due to the fair and by necessity, traffic is being routed from the airport via a detour (and not from the Kremasti bridge)!
It is certain that for at least ten days the situation will be suffocating.
It should be noted that according to complaints made by our fellow citizens to “d”, if someone wants to call a taxi in the city or for short distances, they will have to wait on average more than one – one and a half hour on the phone (!!!) and this is because the demand is concentrated at the airport, the port and in areas such as Kallithea and Faliraki!
“In such cases, we have an application with which, we call the hotels and we go with specific appointments having a small extra charge. It is difficult to find taxis in the city because we have given a base where the highest demands occur. However, we are in cooperation with the hotels and the receptionist can serve the customers, with the specific application to make an appointment with the taxi,” he says.
For its part, DES RODA has added several bus routes to serve the people (d wrote about it) and has also recruited more drivers to meet the demand.
Finally, it should be noted that the same picture is presented in the rental vehicles, where until the end of August … are all booked and it is very difficult to find a car during this period to rent!
All of the above data that we record daily in “d” show the great demand that exists on our island this period with the tourist traffic that has exploded since July and as everything indicates, continues very well.