My parents boarded a bus and, as usual, my mother, who cares for my father - a disabled badge holder -, placed their cards on the card machine. One made a different sound but the driver's only reaction was to wave them to sit down quickly!

A few minutes later, a Bus Inspector came along and my mother handed him their cards. He gave her one back but when she asked for the other, he told her that she had not paid and that she thus had to collect it from Valletta and pay a €50 fine!! When she protested that the driver had not told her that the card was empty and asked to speak to the driver, the Inspector said "no don't speak to him because he won't understand you ... he's a foreigner"!!

What kind of service is this? The Inspector could see for himself that this woman was not alone, that she is a senior citizen and that she did want to pay; she had not willingly broken the rules; she even told him that it was logistically impossible for her to go to Valletta by bus... and did she get any sympathy? Practices and rules are changed and people only get to know about them from notices on the bus. Why do senior citizens get a reduced bus fare when their needs are then disregarded and are fined such prices?

After several attempts to contact Transport Malta Customer Service and Head Office, explain the incident, and provide all necessary information, which they did have, I was told that the reply /verdict was that my mother had to pay the fine! The driver was still being investigated; maybe they still do not have an interpreter whom he can understand ... And wasn't the Inspector responsible for checking on the driver as well as the passenger?

So my mother ended up having to pay the €50 fine along with €4 every time she paid hospital visits she had in the period while this saga was concluded. There are no reduced tickets for non-card holders and it took the person at Head Office a couple of weeks to decide.

Therefore, beware of Transport Malta as it seems to lack the decency of caring enough about people, especially people with disabilities or senior citizens, to have a driver that can communicate with them and do his job well.

It seems that Transport Malta's main concern is not the type of service it provides but profit - and this when it is already heavily subsidised by the State ... through our taxes!! 

 

Rita Catania

Naxxar