The Athens Metro has recently been ranked third best in Europe behind Oslo and Sofia in rankings prepared by luggage storage company Bounce.
The company has looked into all of the services across the continent’s capital cities – and made some surprising discoveries. While the London Underground is perhaps the most famous of all of Europe’s metro networks, it doesn’t even come in the top five best.
It lost points for its huge numbers of passengers and confusing layout, making it difficult for tourists to navigate.
In its research, the company considered a wide range of factors, from the average Google review score of stations and the distance covered by the system to the number of stations, the annual ridership, and the percentage of positive and negative online reactions to each service. The data was then combined into an ‘underground index’ score.
Athens Metro just behind Oslo and Sofia
Athens Metro was ranked third with a score of 7.29 out of 10.
The metro of the Greek capital city provides a direct link to the airport, which allows travelers to access the city center with cheap, quick and regular public transport.
It also connects to the city’s busy Piraeus port area, which supports travel by ferry to many Greek island destinations.
The Athens Metro has 62 stations across 70km of track and sees more than a quarter of a million passengers every year, something that makes it an integral part of the city’s transport infrastructure.
The average Google review score for all metro stations in the city is 4.10 out of 5, although the busiest, Syntagma station, netted a score of just 3.50 out of 5.
Bounce says this is likely down to how busy it can be, although some reviews do praise it for being “modern, spacious, clean”, and others appreciate exhibits on the ticket hall level.
Oslo came top of the ranking, with an index score of 8.06 out of 10.
The Norwegian capital’s system, known locally as the Oslo T-Bane or T-banen i Oslo, boasts 101 stations covering 85km of track. It serves all 15 of the city’s boroughs, as well as extending part-way into the neighboring Baerum municipality.
Up next is Sofia’s metro system with an index score of 7.64 out of 10.
The Bulgarian capital’s metro is the only one in the country as well as one of the youngest in the study, having only opened to passengers in 1998.
The worst metro systems in Europe
Despite Budapest’s many charms, its metro is nothing to write home about. The Hungarian capital’s offering has been given the dubious honor of the worst of its kind in Europe, with an index score of just 3.13 out of 10.
Although the Budapest metro system is relatively small, with 48 stations across 39km of track, it has a very large number of annual passengers at over 382 million.
The second worst metro service was found to be, perhaps surprisingly, Brussels.
The Belgian capital, which has 59 stations along 40km of track, scored only 3.20 out of 10 on Bounce’s index.
Home to the European Union, the city has a busy metro that carries more than 86 million passengers a year – making it a vital part of the city’s infrastructure while reducing traffic and congestion on the roads.
The busiest metro station, Gare du Midi, happens to be the lowest-rated, with a Google review score of just 1.90 out of 5.
Related: Greece Opens New Metro Station Linking Piraeus Port and Athens Airport
