Despite the catcalls and blustering impromptu speeches from the floor delivered in stentorian voices, the bus drivers and their association yesterday presented a cautious, conciliatory and somewhat positive reaction to the government’s proposals on public transport as outlined on Friday.

A statement by the Public Transport Association noted that the government has moved from its earlier insistence that the newer low floor buses would not be accepted under the new scheme. The government has now said that buses have to be at least Euro 3 emissions levels.

The bus owners also stated they are ready to accept the new routes as outlined by the government and welcomed the news that the government will improve the bus nodes and introduce bus lanes.

A ministry statement welcomed the more positive tone on the part of the bus drivers, but it did not hide the huge gap there is between what the bus drivers want and how the government intends to operate.

The main difficulty lies in how the tender for public transport will be issued and operated. The association, as it repeated yesterday, wants the government to negotiate the conditions of the tender directly with it but the government replied this would be unacceptable under EU laws.

Malta and Gozo will have one completely new tender, the conditions for which will be announced shortly, and an international competition held soon after. Until some two years ago, the idea was that the tender could be split into some 23 different routes and it was assumed that groups of bus drivers would be able to tender for the individual routes, with the bus drivers assuming on their part they would remain within the association. The European Commission however shot down this idea and forced the government to change its plans. It is not clear whether this became evident before or after the election, or before or after the government made the electoral commitment to renew the buses, as the bus drivers repeatedly kept reminding Minister Austin Gatt on Friday.

Malta has the unique situation that almost each bus is owned by an individual owner – a situation that was found only in Mauritius until some years ago. The only way for bus drivers to compete in the coming tender would be for the bus owners to come together as a cooperative, but that seems rather difficult, which explains the association’s repeated efforts to get the government to negotiate directly with it.

Nor does it seem possible for the bus drivers to accept that their numbers be cut down from the 508 buses there are at present to around 200 to 300, and that the buses are operated by different hands around the clock.

In honeyed terms, the ministry said yesterday it prefers to conclude (though there was nothing in the association’s statement to make it so) that the association is considering reforming itself so that it, or some of its members, could compete in the coming tender.

For all the shouting and interruptions that made most of the news, Friday’s conference was very interesting. Ably compered by Xarabank’s presenter, Peppi Azzopardi, it unveiled how the government envisages the public transport network of the future.

However, since it was presented in a graphic way, it made many bus owners present conclude it resembled more the London Underground map than the Malta they know – actually, even the Underground map is a stylised map.

In simple terms, Malta will have nine interchanges or hubs from today’s spokes of the wheel leading to Valletta – Bugibba, Luxol, Mater Dei/University, Birkirkara, Tecnopark, Rabat, Marsa, Paola, and Valletta. These will be served by a network of main lines, much of which already exist. Then there will be a series of secondary nodes, such as Cirkewwa, Ghajn Tuffieha, Naxxar, Targa Gap, St Julian’s, Ferries, Msida, Bombi, and so on, which will be served by cross lines linking transversally the main lines. There will also be a series of Park and Ride facilities such as at Luxol, Marsa and Ta Qali. A third level will be the smaller feeder lines with much smaller buses, almost minivans, which will link together the various small villages and parts of the same village for circulation within the same village. Then there will be some direct services, called Airservices, such as between MIA and Cirkewwa (existing) and between MIA and Sliema.

Maybe it was the long explanation in a dark cinema coming to an end which exasperated the bus drivers, but maybe also it was the sight of the new buses, which rather than today’s one bus size fits all, varied between the sleek bendibuses of abroad and the smaller buses rather like minivans.

Other facilities that will be brought in will include a new ticketing system, based on price per tariff, not per bus ride, various discounts, bus lanes, completely new bus shelters with electronic information regarding the coming bus.

Among the interruptions, the most notable came from the bus owner who said his 13-year-old son cleans his bus daily and who said a person from San Gwann who wants to go to MIA can just walk down to the hospital and catch a bus from there, and the only taxi driver to speak and identify himself as such who claimed the bus fares will be e5, which was later denied by the minister as the fare structure will only be known at the end of the negotiations and will take into consideration the subsidy levels the government provides.



The trams – 10 years away

Contrary to earlier impressions that the government was considering a tram system among its public transport priorities, Friday’s conference heard that the trams are still some 10 years away, at least.

Nevertheless, serious work has been done on the issue, as David Simmons, from Halcrow, told the conference.

Two possible routes are being studied – from Valletta to Msida and Ta’ Xbiex to Sliema Ferries, and from Valletta to Hamrun High Street to Ta’ Qali.

Such trams would be able to carry 4000 to 5000 passengers per hour, with each tram 35 metres long and carrying 250 passengers. They would have priority over cars and the journey from Valletta to Sliema would take 15 minutes and from Valletta to Ta’ Qali 21 minutes.

Fourteen trams would be required, a capital investment of between e206 million and e325 million with an annual operating cost of around e7.5 million, half of which would be for labour.