There are many facets to the reform of public transport and understandably such a reform cannot overnight bring a system which had remained unreformed for many years to one acceptable by 21st century standards.

However, the commuter – who was not consulted at all in this reform – is now being made to shoulder all the difficulties of the transition. This goes against the principle of fairness. And so the authorities should intervene.

For a start the routes need to be revised urgently so that the travelling time the commuter takes in arriving to his destination would not be excessively longer than under the old system. A mechanism whereby routes are sanctioned with public participation should also be introduced.

Understandably, this is expected to take many weeks to complete, so as a matter of urgency Transport Malta should suspend those routes which they consider are creating excessive hardship to the commuter and in those instances re-introduce the old route.

■ Mario Mifsud

Ħamrun