Good practice:

Road Equivalent Tariff

Road Equivalent Tariff is the measure, that seeks to equalise the cost of public transport from mainland Greece to an island or from island to island at the cost that would apply to mainland Greece for the same distance.
Road Equivalent Tariff includes the residents and businesses based in all Greek islands. In specific, the beneficiaries are: 1) households whose members are Greek citizens or foreigners, who have a valid residence permit in any of the islands included in the measure; 2) staff of health care services and school teachers temporarily serving on those islands; 3) SMEs involved in the sectors of trade, product processing and tourist accommodation, that are established on those islands and registered in the relevant local chamber of commerce. Airlines are also included in the measure.
The beneficiaries receive a «Unique Citizen Number» that certifies their eligibility for the subsidy. Each type of beneficiary is entitled to a given maximum number of tickets. For example, a citizen from Rhode is entitled to 16 tickets per year. However, any additional tickets are also registered to his/her name and may be reimbursed in case further funds are available.

The measure is financed by the Greek Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy using national funds from the Public Investment Program. 60 million Euros have been allocated for the pilot implementation of the measure in 2018 and 156 million Euros in 2019.

This is considered one of the most successful transportation subsidies. To date, more than 5,500 SMEs have joined the “Road Equivalent Tariff” measure, including 3,600 in the pilot application and 1,800 in the first month of its universal implementation.
Specifically, in South Aegean Region, residents of 48 islands and 2050 small and medium companies in the sector of transport and logistics have enjoyed the benefits of the measure.

One challenge encountered was to define the criteria of access to the measure for the different businesses.

During summer 2018, the measure was initially applied in 49 islands subsiding 61,500 islanders to make more than 60,000 ferry journeys (pilot case). Then from January 2019 all islands excluding Crete, Evoia and Lefkada were included in the measure. Crete was also included in the measure in September 2020.
It is a measure already used by other European countries (for example in Arran island in Scotland) and adapted by the Greek government to harmonise the high cost of moving goods and transfer people to and from the numerous Greek islands. It aimed at boosting the competitiveness of the local SMEs and financially assisting the local community.