Yes, it’s a nightmare for all commuters, not only for Maltese commuters but, worse still, for tourists too. They will be returning home with a very bad idea of what Maltese public transport stands for, and with sad memories of how their holiday was marred by the sheer inefficiency and inefficacy of our ‘new’ bus schedule
You see, we Maltese commuters grumble - and rightly so - about the shoddy service, but at least we know that sometime in the medium to long-term future things will only get better as the operators will somehow (hopefully) get to grips with the system, re-invent the routes and re-install some form of sanity to the service.
But the turnaround to normality will not take place fast enough to redeem the operators of the new bus service, and for that matter the whole of Malta, in the eyes of tourists. Our guests will not be staying long enough in Malta to experience a normal bus service, but they will certainly be taking back home memories of a daunting experience, of how they were made to wait for hours to reach their destinations, while frantically trying to take cover under make-shift canopies to hide themselves from the blistering sun.
When I reached the Qawra bus terminus last Friday to address a press conference about the matter, I was greeted angrily by the fuming tourists. There were dozens waiting in the sweltering heat for a bus to take them to Sliema and Valletta. Most of them had already been waiting for some time before I arrived and they were all still there, accompanied by many more by the time I finished my job with the journalists about an hour later.
It was a hugely embarrassing experience as I could hear tourists moaning about the unforgivable delays in the service and threatening not to return to Malta ever again for a holiday. One of them crept up behind me while I was addressing journalists and pleaded to the authorities to get the old buses back again! He must have visited Malta a number of times before, exactly the type of repeat tourist we so badly need, but I’m sure he will be asking his agent abroad about the situation in public transport before he gets the next plane again to Malta.
The Malta Tourism Authority spends millions every year to promote the Maltese Islands abroad in the best possible way and to attract larger numbers of tourists than in previous years. Then, along comes Austin Gatt to promote the Islands with his inimitable no-nonsense style of energy and pomp. So confident was he about his reform that he didn’t even bat an eyelid about introducing the service right in the height of the tourist season. Nothing, he thought, could go wrong because he was piloting the reform.
He was in the headlines every single day until the service hit the ground. Since then he has been more conspicuous by his absence than by his presence to try to solve the cobweb of problems that his reforms have introduced. It’s a matter for the operator to deal with, he thinks. But all of us believe that he is the man politically responsible for all the mess and for placing a bomb right under the nose of his district colleague Mario de Marco, the man running the show in our tourism industry.
Admittedly, Dr de Marco seems to be doing a good job getting more tourists to Malta. But quite disappointingly he’s hasn’t yet realised (or has he?) that his remit goes beyond just playing the numbers game and that his mission is to ensure that our guests are served well. The public transport problem is not only Austin’s baby but it’s Mario’s too. Indeed, while every new tourist brought to Malta is to Dr de Marco’s credit, every tourist lost to the new bus system is to his own demerit. Tour operators and hoteliers will not be knocking on Dr Gatt’s door but rather on Dr de Marco’s.
Dr de Marco should be seen on the ground visibly handling the crises and showing leadership.
Dr Gulia is the Opposition’s Main Spokesman on tourism and Air Malta