As I was leafing through the bus services schedule from the 1960s, I noted the routes, authorised livery, normal frequency, journey time and through fare. At that time the bus stations were situated at Kingsgate (City Gate) and Castille Place. I was still a youngster at the time but could not help feeling nostalgic as my mind slowly drifted back to the present and the state of the bus service in Malta. From a swift search online I also read what people are saying at ‘Arriva Experience – The Experience Page’.
Over the past couple of years, since the introduction of the new buses, we have seen it all from the local bus transport system provider Arriva. Stories verging from the quasi-hilarious to the most tragic:
? Passengers and drivers complaining of air-conditioners not working
? Detours upon detours taking people round half of Malta before reaching destination
? Buses catching fire
? Large monstrous bendy buses travelling in opposite directions being caught in narrow streets causing bottlenecks holding traffic for hours on end
? Accidents upon accidents involving Arriva buses with serious consequences to life and limb
? Foreign black drivers racially insulted
? An Arriva bus chased downhill by its driver. Even the buses are running away from their drivers, as it seems they have had enough
? Teenager arrested on Arriva bus on suspicion that the BB gun he had on board was the real thing.
On the smaller sister-island of Malta, Gozo, these buses have had relative success. This is understandable given the size of the island and relatively less demand. The introduction of the buses made more sense in that the fleet is made up of small sized buses that can manoeuvre well in the narrow streets.
These China-made buses were dumped in Malta after they failed miserably in rendering an efficient and effective service to the UK transport system. Malta had a bus service before that was surely not the pride and joy of the world but still one could risk the ride despite the discomforts and arrive at your destination on time. Also many tourists felt nostalgic as they enjoyed a trip down memory lane on the old Malta buses. Now we have one of the worst fleets and services in the world and something has to be done about it. Who can forget the colourful and authorised livery of the Malta buses between 1927 and 1973? Malta was more colourful than now as different routes had different bus colour ranging from red with white band to light blue with red and blue band to orange, dark green, light green, dark blue and brown. This made them so easily identifiable.
The government has announced that the overhaul of the public transport service is set for next year and not earlier, as had been promised by Arriva. The sooner the government re-introduces some of the old buses to keep the old Malta buses transport heritage on the road and at the same time introducing smaller and/or double-decker buses and faster routes, the better. One must also think of the drivers whose pay is not very high as well as their working conditions. The work practices must also be adjusted to those of the local situation.
This, not only to improve transport but to cut down on the use of private motor vehicles and for the smooth running of the overall transport system in Malta as the inefficiencies of the bus system also impinge and have a negative cascading effect on other means of transport and the economy in general.
Anthony Zarb Dimech
BIRKIRKARA