I never thought I would find myself writing about bus fares, of all things, but I’m going to do so now. The plan to have lower bus fares for residents of Malta (not the same thing as Maltese citizens) is unhelpful and unwise.
This is not because of the financial aspect, given that people on holiday don’t use the buses for prolonged periods and can factor in a few more cents, but because we certainly don’t need to encourage the ‘them and us’ attitude that plagues these islands.
The division of bus users into two categories that have, essentially, nothing at all to do with bus use reveals the mental framework of those who are doing the dividing. It also encourages this kind of illogical and non-commercial thinking in others: residents of Malta get lower prices because, heck, they’re residents of Malta. The rest of you must pay more or Go Back Where You Came From.
If the buses are there to provide a commercial service, then any discounts must be planned along commercial lines. The most obvious of these is the one used almost everywhere you will find public transport in the developed world: the frequent-user pass. This is the round wheel, as opposed to the square one called ‘cheaper prices for those who live here even if they don’t use buses that much’.
Let’s get this straight at the outset. The plan is not actually for a two-tier paying system for those who get on the bus and hand over their cash trip by trip. Passengers are not expected to show their identity card on boarding and before handing over their money. The two-tier price system is for one-week passes: if you’re registered as a resident of Malta, you pay less for your pass.
The thinking behind this decision is obviously not commercial, even though it is being explained away as such. We have been told that those who are not residents of Malta will be charged more so that residents of Malta can be charged less. But customers are customers are customers. You don’t say to some of your customers: “I’m taking more money off you so that I can take less off others.”
Businesses may in fact do this, but the decision is product-based or loyalty-based. For example, those who buy products for very high prices at the more sophisticated end of a company’s range are in effect making it possible for that company to sell some of its other products for less. Many businesses operate loyalty schemes, by which they give lower prices to their more frequent and regular customers. But I can’t think of any business that has an official price list with two different prices for the same product or service: one price for those who live in town; and another price for those who come in from the sticks.
For years, this country has battled against the mentality that tourists are there to be fleeced for what they are worth. At beach bars, bottles of water come with one price if you’re Maltese and another if you’re on holiday. Taxis? The same. Drinks in bars? Ditto. If the government gives this kind of thinking the stamp of officialdom, with bus fares that are more expensive for bloody foreigners who don’t even live here, it is in effect saying that it’s quite sensible and acceptable to charge tourists more than you do those who live in Malta.
The Ministry for Investment, which has taken this decision, has explained itself by saying that if you lower the fare for one category of person, then you must increase it for another. Well, obviously – nothing new there. Others have dealt with this long before now, and they haven’t done so by telling visitors to London that they must show their residency papers when presenting themselves for purchase of a one-week pass and then pay more to travel on the Underground train if they’re not resident in Britain.
The way it’s usually done is pretty simple. Those who want cheaper fares because they use public transport a lot just buy a one-week or one-month pass. If they pay on a trip-by-trip basis, then they pay a relatively high fare. The system rewards those who use public transport on the basis of whether they are frequent customers or not, and not on the basis of where they live or pay tax.
The comparison used by the Ministry for Investment – that non-residents are charged more for their one-week bus passes so that residents can be charged less – is wholly unsatisfactory, because it fails to factor in, perhaps deliberately, that most bus users will not be buying week passes at all. They will just carry on boarding buses and paying for the trip. The higher prices charged to non-residents for their passes will, in effect, subsidise these ad hoc users. But the ad hoc users are the ones who should pay more, so that all holders of week passes, wherever they live, can pay less.
Leaving aside the lack of sound commercial sense in this decision – telling one kind of customer that you’re ripping him off so that you can give another kind of customer an easy ride – it’s the spirit of the thing that is mainly so off-putting. It is really disingenuous to claim that this does not go against EU rules because the discrimination between customers is made on the basis of residency and not citizenship. Most residents of Malta are Maltese citizens and most Maltese citizens are residents of Malta. It is very likely that 99.9 per cent of Maltese citizens who use the bus are residents of Malta.
When Malta has such a terrible problem with xenophobia and prejudice against foreigners of all stripes, shades, colours and languages, it is not clever at all to encourage people in this way of thinking. Even if this isn’t the actual intention, that is certainly going to be the result.
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