(ii) Transportation 62% reported that gaps in or lack of transportation resulted in restrictions on their ability to access basic rights, including the asylum procedure, legal support, and healthcare The EASO guidelines on reception conditions specify that accommodation facilities should be located within a reasonable distance of health services, legal aid, education, asylum procedures and markets for food and goods¹³⁰. Where public transport is necessary, travel times should be reasonable¹³¹. Greek Ombudsperson inspections conducted between June 2022 and December 2023 found that most facilities are located outside urban areas or are in very remote locations, leading to concrete challenges in terms of access to goods and services and fostering a sense of isolation¹³². According to UNHCR, interruptions to RIS transportation services have been frequent during 2023 and 2024, hampering access to nearby urban centres, as well as access to hospitals or to asylum offices for procedures requiring physical presence. These issues are especially pronounced for facilities that are either very remote or without any public transportation available nearby¹³³. The combination of minimal service provision within facilities and lack of public transport to allow residents to easily reach basic and potentially life-saving services is of serious concern, as highlighted by civil society groups¹³⁴. Moreover, in the absence of free transport services, camp residents are compelled to pay for bus fares or taxis using the extremely limited financial aid provided by the state (see section on cash assistance from page 38). Interviews evidenced a number of challenges related to the isolated position of camps and the lack of transportation organised by the camp to allow residents to access essential services. In Ritsona, located 75 km from Athens with limited public transport connections, residents reported that there were frequent interruptions to the bus service organised by the camp, including for months on end. One resident reported that they paid 20 euros for a return bus ticket to Athens in order to attend an asylum appointment, amounting to almost a third of their monthly financial allowance. In Lagkadikia, although located close to a village with some amenities, no transport was reported to be provided for hospital or asylum appointments, or to transport children to school. One resident there reported that he could barely afford to pay for his two teenage children to attend school every day due to the low level of cash assistance received by the family. Several families in Lagkadikia had specifically requested a school bus be provided by the camp so their children did not have to walk to school by themselves, particularly due to the reported presence of snakes in the vicinity. In Kavala, respondents shared that travel costs to the nearest hospital were manageable, however not for asylum appointments: one resident reported having to pay 50 euros to travel to Alexandroupoli to submit his appeal. In Corinth, a respondent reported that the camp administration referred him to an CSO operating in the vicinity of the camp in order to get a ticket for the train to travel to Athens to submit his asylum appeal, due to lack of transport organised by the camp. The combination of unreliable interpretation services inside facilities and lack of transportation to urban centres organised by camp authorities resulted in severe isolation for people resident in camps who struggled to access the support they needed. 30