Now that we have had a change in the Minister responsible for Public Transport, Partit Demokratiku said it expects Ian Borg to pull up his socks on the dire situation in which our public transport is and act swiftly. PD questions whether the inertia which seems to have taken over our public transport system could be reversed. And whether there are obstacles within the same institution preventing public transport from operating effectively. 

In a statement, PD said Many regular commuters have reported to us how sometimes they need to wait for long periods under the scorching sun before a bus appears. Arriving late to work and other appointments due to the unreliability of the transport system has become the order of the day.

PD is asking for a independent study to be carried out whereby consumer rights are ascertained. For years we have been waiting for a public transport system that runs  smoothly. PD notes that the tax payer is effectively forking out more money in subsidies. The Maltese tax payer has paid €29M in 2014, €23M in 2015 and last year it was €27M. It is therefore imperative that our country gets a state of the art public transport system which meets the needs of the people living in Malta and Gozo. This means that the buses should not only keep to their schedule but be more frequent and punctual.

Furthermore, Partit Demokratiku notes that workers’ rights, meaning that the staff should have better working conditions in order to reduce the high turn over of employees. It is only by seriously putting our foot down and addressing the issues which need to be studied and implemented  that we can improve the public transport system and help reduce the traffic congestion which is plaguing our roads to the detriment of our wellbeing.