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Athens metro breaks record
Athens - The Athens metro carried half a million people daily during the first eleven days of the Athens Olympics - 75 percent more than in the same period last year, the Greek capital's subway operator said on Thursday.
The figures reflect passenger traffic from August 13, the day of the Games' opening ceremony, to August 24, five days before their Sunday closing ceremony.
They do not include members of the Olympic family, volunteers and competition spectators who can use the metro for free, without validating tickets.
"This exceeds Games' organisers ATHOC forecasts for average daily passenger traffic reaching 450 000 people," subway operator AMEL said in a statement.
Athenians returning from their summer holidays boosted the metro's usage numbers to 580 000 on Tuesday.
The metro system's recent expansion with new stations, coupled with car traffic restrictions imposed during the Olympics, has encouraged Athenians to get on their subway, according to AMEL President Vassilis Oikonomopoulos.
"Many Athenians have used it for the first time," he said in the statement.
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