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An avalanche of "blue" appointments in the Athens subway just before the parliamentary elections in October 2009 were revealed in the report of the Inspectorate for Public Administration, prepared by Leandros Rakindzis. The appointments were made by the government of New Democracy, possibly with the purpose of buying votes, because all appointed were from the districts of Larissa and Rodopi in northern Greece. The appointments were done quickly some of the new employees went through an interview after receiving their order of appointment, while others were appointed despite the poor results at the discussion.
    The avalanche of appointments lasted only 23 days, but led to a change in the ratio between revenues and expenditures for salaries from 48 per cent to 74 per cent. Thus for the first time in 2009 the Athens subway registered a loss of more than 22 million euros. The personal staff of the services of the subway increased significantly – thus, for example in the Office for public relations work twice as many employees, and in the Directorate for Information Service 90 per cent more. Inspector Leandros Rakindzis has submitted his report to the Greek justice. On a sharp lay off of the employees in public transport in Greece insist also the representatives of the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank. "In the public sector in Greece work too many people who receive too high income", explicitly said the head of the IMF mission in Greece, Paul Thomson.
    To cover the losses of the transport companies in Athens at least in part, the government resorted to an increase in public transport tickets from February 1^st, 2011. A single ticket is introduced at the cost of 1.20 euros, which is valid for all transportation means except the subway. The second type of ticket will cost 1.40 euros and can be used within 90 minutes in all modes of transport and will in practice replace the ticket of 1 Euro, which is currently in force.
Employees in the public transportation decided to postpone the 24-hour strike planned for tomorrow, January 5 as the governing bodies of the transport companies filed lawsuits against the unions. It is unclear whether the second to strike planned for Monday, January 10 will also be held. Tomorrow, in Athens the subway, the electric train, which connects Piraeus to the northern suburb Kifisiya and the buses will stop working only between 10 am and 16 pm. Representative of the Ministry of Transportation did not exclude the possibility for the government to recourse to mobilization again if the strikes of transport workers continue.