Efforts to improve the public transport system are paying off and the use of buses is gradually growing in popularity, a spokesperson from the Urban Development and Roads Ministry told this newspaper yesterday.

While there was an overall increase in the number of people using public transport last year, there was a particularly strong increase during the first two months this year.

The ministry spokesperson said that despite certain factors that affected public transport last year, particularly the three-day strike in March, there was still a consistent increase in the use of buses and one of the main reasons that was being attributed to this increase was the attention being given to improve the overall service.

Certain initiatives like the introduction of a code of conduct for bus drivers were leaving their desired effect on the public transport system, said the spokesperson.

The authorities have also been making an effort to improve punctuality in a bid to better serve patrons.

While the three-day strike in March last year resulted in a decrease of 7.75 per cent in the number of bus tickets sold, this decrease was made up for during other months, particularly October and December.

The ministry spokesperson attributed the increase in October (3.51 per cent over the same period of 2005) to the fact that October marks the opening of the academic year, when university routes start operating fully after the summer break.

The university routes are constantly gaining in popularity, said the spokesperson, adding that the number of tickets sold on these routes was doubling every year.

In addition to this, the increase in the number of bus tickets sold during the last three months last year, may also be attributed to the first low-cost carrier operating to and from Malta.

Tourists making use of low-cost carriers were more likely to use buses rather than any other form of transport, said the spokesperson.

As regards the strong increase registered in December (8.27 per cent), the ministry was considering this to be the result of a higher economic activity and more people entering Valletta.

Likewise, the large number of people entering Valletta for the Notte Magica event held on 6 January, also had a say in the increase registered during the first month of this year, although the statistics issued by the ministry did not include all the different routes specifically introduced during this particular event.

Valletta is always very popular during Carnival, but something must have either attracted a larger number of people than usual this year, or more people decided to use public transport to get there.

In fact, compared to February last year, last month there was a strong 11.35 per cent increase in the number of bus tickets sold.

While 2,259,534 tickets were sold last month, 2,029,247 were sold in February last year and just over 2 million during the same period in 2005.