The deal announced on Saturday confirmed that Arriva, the British transport company which was recently bought out by Deutsche Bahn, will be tasked with managing Malta’s reformed public transport system. July next year, when the new operator takes over the operations of the mass public transportation system, will signal the end of a three-year process to reform the current service which is far removed from the requirements of today’s society needs.

But what will commuters expect from the new operator? That is the key question which has to be answered in this interim period. The countdown has started for the operator to start providing a much improved service on what we have been accustomed to.

In fact, our own perception of public transportation is bad and any improvements are regarded as breakthroughs. This perception is the justified result derived from a mediocre service which hardly improved during the past years despite several attempts. Even worse, the low patronage meant that public transport had to be sustained through taxation as government made good for the shortfall in revenues, which last year amounted to €9m.

The failure of the current public transport system is attested by the amount of private vehicles in this country, exceeding 300,000, as the public prefers the more costly option of using their private vehicle for all their transportation needs. Owning and running a private vehicle in Malta is a very expensive affair, but these statistics also highlights the poor policy decisions by successive governments which sought to heavily tax vehicle owners before providing a decent alternative.

It is useless at this stage to debate past policy decisions and failed attempts at reforming public transportation. The aim is to look forward at the service which the new public transport operator will provide. Interestingly, Arriva is confident that it can provide more routes and an increased frequency with practically half the amount of vehicles currently in operation. Moreover, the majority of vehicles will be brand new and have the latest technology to pollute the environment less. Without doubt, this does indeed look as a veritable challenge when compared to the system in operation today.

An even more interesting challenge will be that of attracting commuters back to public transport. Infrastructure, Transport and Communications Minister Austin Gatt outlined this challenge during his presentation on Saturday and even touched upon car pooling but solutions to this effect still have to be made public, and thereafter these solutions will have to convince private vehicle users. Moreover, the attractiveness of a reformed public transport system will only be known in the long-term.

In practical terms, a quantum leap in service is required to attract commuters to use public transport service. This is not impossible and many private vehicle users would happily save money and use an efficient service. A potential target would be office workers who use their private vehicle solely for their daily commute to their office and back.

The fact that fares will remain unchanged will also help to assess the new service but the introduction of a fee for the park and ride zones will work against this concept, introduced four years ago.

Private vehicle owners require an interim period of time to embrace the proposed improved services by the new public transport operator. Introducing a fee on the first day of service will merely shift the parking problem to other zones. A rethink on park and ride fees for an interim period would be beneficial at this stage and the ‘free’ service could be sustained through the €2.8m savings made from the current subsidies to the public transport association. The aim is to wean motorists from their vehicles rather than taxing them further. This is a gradual process and a quality service will be key to achieving this goal.