Heads really should roll over the ongoing public transport chaos and general lack of planning on access to Valletta. Someone has to take responsibility for the disastrous situation affecting the vast majority of commuters and people just trying to get from A to B without having to play the waiting and maze game.
The ministry is claiming that local councils were widely consulted on the bus routes, which are proving to be such a disaster. Ah yes, local councils, what a wash out they are turning out to be.
Besides the ongoing transport mess (we have been promised route changes and we shall have to see how they pan out), within the next two weeks St Paul Street, now one of only two access points to Valletta, will be closed for up to 11 weeks for road works.
Apparently, traffic arrangements are still being drawn up. No rush! “Ejja ha-imorru and we will face the mess later” seems to be the current modus operandi. “The idea was to change the direction of traffic going through certain roads to make Valletta accessible, Valletta mayor Alexiei Dingli told The Times.
What a joker, seeing as the only access point into Valletta will be through Marsamxett up to Old Bakery Street. Then you have a choice, you can carry on down Old Bakery Street or take a right turn up St John’s Street and right again into Strait Street, then another right to the bottom of Melita Street, then up the steep hill − St Andrew’s Street on to South Street up to Old Bakery Street when you are back to almost where you started. The merry go round should get livelier and livelier.
The mayor acknowledged that St Paul Street was a main artery, following the closure of Pope Pius V Street. Maybe he and his council should have made more of an objection to the removal of Pope Pius V Street.
The mayor said that the council had been discussing the project since January and had consulted the Chamber for Small and Medium Businesses (GRTU). But had the council consulted the residents at all? As one commentator rightly opined “Froga wahda wara l-ohra.” (One complete mess after another).
The Sliema council is no better. Many of the parking spaces along the Ferries have gone, like what happened in Valletta. There seems to be an attempt to keep us out of the City unless we travel by public transport and the plan is being replicated in Sliema. Frankly, we are being treated like cattle.
The government could have at least waited for the public transport service to prove viable before it started closing off access points and removing parking spaces en masse. As for the councils in Valletta and Sliema, since their mayors are both hoping to make it to Parliament on the PN ticket they are not going to challenge the government, which is just steamrolling ahead. They are of course all forgetting they will need votes to get there.
As AD said yesterday, commenting on yet another mega development − Town Square, “The council seems to be in a total stalemate and is conspicuous by its absence regarding environmental issues in the locality.”
Back to the public transport debacle, Leo Brincat, Opposition spokesman on the Environment and Sustainable Development, informed readers in the Independent last week that Malta does not even have a sustainable transport plan, or a ‘green’ transport strategy, unlike other countries that joined the EU at the same time as we did. Now why didn’t that surprise me?
As to Arriva, besides all the harrowing comments on line, I got a call yesterday from a friend who waited for the No 11 bus to Cirkewwa for nearly three hours at the bus stop by the Preluna Hotel on Friday. She was there at 4.10pm. Three buses drove past as they were full up. Her calls to customer care were returned promptly and courteously and she was informed at 6.30pm that a No. 11 bus was on its way from the Ferries. It arrived at the bus stop at 7.
My friend forced her way on, as the bus was again full up. She refused to budge and the bus finally took off for the big tour around Bugibba, Qawra and St Paul’s Bay. It arrived at Cirkewwa at 8.35pm just as the ferry was leaving.
Last week, lawyer Joe Brincat filed a judicial protest against Transport Malta objecting to “unreasonable” bus routes. Two people who use public transport on a daily basis have created a FB page Protesta dwar is-servizz il-Gdid tat-Trasport Pubbliku.
They are asking people to join them on Wednesday, 10 August from 7 to 8.30pm. Venue to be announced.
“Buses are overfull with people standing on each other’s toes. Besides, many buses are stopping in the middle of the street with some mechanical problems,” was one comment on the FB protest page. I experienced a breakdown on Friday morning at Mrabat Street just next to the Savoy roundabout. The bus was stuck in the middle of the road and caused an impressive traffic jam.
My take of it is, as I said two weeks ago in “What a Shambles”, that the buses are too wide and the bendy ones too long for our roads. The drivers do not have much room to manoeuvre so have to gingerly steer towards the middle of the road and that is where they are stuck when they breakdown, which according to reports are not rare events.
The Consumers Association has complained to Transport Malta and the Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority about the public transport system and is insisting on action.
“Maltese consumers are not only paying higher tariffs than ever before but Arriva Malta is benefiting from an annual €6 million subsidy,” said the association.
It made me laugh when I read that Arriva managing director Keith Bastow “acknowledged that the service was not up to scratch.” That was as much of an understatement as the ministry saying that it was conscious that a change would have to be “tweaked” after it was implemented in practice and once the real clients - passengers, were listened to.
This after Minister Austin Gatt had tried to shift blame of the routes fiasco on commuters for not taking part in consultation! First of all, what is needed is much more than a slight adjustment, talk about spin. Secondly, did he mean as in listening to what the public had to say about divorce, the parliament building, the open-air theatre and the bonuses to MPs? Another joker. Our pack has more than four of them.
[email protected]