It is now very clear that the public transport reform has been hashed up and messed up and the total chaos that has left commuters disappointed with Arriva and the changed routes will not settle down overnight.
Leaving aside the issues of the drivers, the malfunctioning computers, overheating buses and ticketing machines, because these are not the real cause of the disruptions in the service, let us examine some of the mistakes that could have been prevented, had things been planned properly in advance.
1st mistake: this was in building up expectations with too much hype before the service was launched. It should have been launched with a note to the public to be patient until the routes were fully in place.
2nd mistake: it seems that the routes were arbitrarily changed without any consultative meetings with residents and the respective local councils, which would have provided an opportunity to examine the proposed routes and suggest changes before they were actually implemented.
3rd mistake: this was in using the new terminus before it was fully completed. The old terminus could still have been used, with the buses located where people were used to waiting for them. Then, once the new terminus was finished, with shade from the heat and sustenance for waiting passengers, the move could have been made.
4th mistake: there are errors in the map as distributed to households, with the routes as shown not matching the actual service. For heaven’s sake, did no one have the brains to double check this before it was printed and distributed?
5th mistake: Arriva should have planned things better and have had a back-up pool of drivers and customer-care staff on hand to act as ‘relievers’ in case of emergency or sickness or leave. Even part-timers could have been available ‘on call’ if needed.
6th mistake: the public is not being properly informed and there is silence on the website. Apologies alone do not make the commuter who misses an appointment or turns up late for work feel better. Transport Malta is keeping a silence that indicates something is ‘not quite right’.
7th mistake: there have been different versions as to whom it was that actually planned the routes. Was it Arriva with the Tumas Group, was it Transport Malta officials or was it a Johnny-come-lately? No one seems to have come forward and admitted that the routes as planned are really causing the biggest problems. They seem to have been designed with tourists in mind rather than the daily commuters who need to get from point A to point B in the shortest possible time. Whereas a commuter could previously reach a destination by direct bus to Valletta in, say, 30 minutes, the journey is now taking double the time because of all the added free sightseeing tours they are ‘enjoying’ on the way.
8th mistake: The numbers on the bus bays at the new terminus do not correspond with the actual number of the bus that should pick up commuters from that bay. For example, bay No. 13 loads up for bus No. 91. Instead of a confusing system of numbers, the places served should be clearly indicated in large type above the bus bay.
9th mistake: this is expecting larger localities places such as Zabbar and Marsascala to share one bus. It is obvious that the service has been reduced in some areas, which is why commuters are being left stranded because the buses are overflowing with commuters who all have to use the same bus. A case in point is, again, bus No. 91, which serves Marsascala, Zabbar and also parts of Fgura – three large areas on one bus? Even a bus every 10 minutes, as advertised, would not handle the demand, especially when the University and Junior Colleges start their scholastic year, come 1 October.
10th mistake: Marsascala, where I live, had one bus an hour to Valletta in the 1980s. This then increased to one bus to Valletta every 20 minutes (ie three an hour) and one an hour to Cospicua. Now the so-called “experts” who planned this route with their own self-appointed expertise have decided that bus No. 91 is not to serve the largest residential area in Marsascala and so from three buses an hour, the residents of the so-called Siberia area are now without a direct bus to Valletta. Instead, we have been ‘gifted’ with a new route consisting of some four or five buses an hour going via Zejtun, the airport, Gudja and Birzebbuga. As we say in Maltese, “It’s either half done or overcooked”! So in Triq Il-Qaliet, which is considered the main artery of the Siberia area, we have buses No. 119, 124 (every 30 minutes to the terminus) and 135 but, funnily enough, no bus 91, which was promised as running every 10 minutes to Valletta. Yet according to the map, bus No. 91 is shown as passing through Triq Il-Qaliet, while No. 124 is not supposed to. For residents in this area, this problem can be easily resolved by having Bus No. 91 turn left into Triq is-Salini from Triq il-Marina then follow the old No. 17 route down through Triq Il-Qaliet back again to the terminus, or pass from Triq il-Marina up to Triq Il-Qaliet and out through Triq Il-Gardiel back to the terminus like the old No. 19. Is this too much to ask?
Finally, it is clear that a revision after six months will be too late. The routes need to be examined at the end of the month, and where they have been changed for the better, then by all means keep them, but where they are causing hardship to residents, then they need to be changed or amended so that finally we will have a decent bus service. My sympathies are with Arriva, who probably never imagined all the problems they would have had to face in this tiny island. My final suggestion to Arriva is to prepare a short survey and hand it out to commuters. Then you will hear the real suggestions from the people who use the buses on a daily basis: don’t listen to theories but to facts.
Marvic Attard Gialanze