He will characteristically refuse point-blank to do so, but Transport Minister Joe Mizzi really ought to thank his predecessor in office, Austin Gatt.
In these days we are assisting at the transfer of public transport in Malta from the Public Transport unit which ran the service after the end of Arriva, to Autobuses de Leon.
For the past months, and years, we have heard incessant criticism of the Arriva service. The service was chaotic, buses were late, the routes were far too convoluted, the bendybuses were dangerous and could catch fire, etc.
Most of the criticism, we readily admit, was more than justified. The chaos that accompanied the launch of Arriva was incredible. The routes were badly designed and you could get a tour round half Malta to get anywhere.
As for the bendybuses catching fire, that has never been satisfactorily cleared up although one should consider the very worthy manufacturer. There have been reports, or rather rumours, the likely cause could have been because the air-conditioning units were boosted up because of the intense heat and these in turn, caught fire.
Whatever, these are now past. Arriva is gone. The temporary service did not allow any further degeneration. And the new deal with Autobuses de Leon promises further investment, more routes and further refinements of the service.
The signing of the agreement is a feather in Minister Mizzi’s cap, regardless of any reservations one may have. But what would have been the situation had not Austin Gatt, years ago, and vituperated ever since, not captained the end of the ramshackle bus service there was before, with the service at the mercy of owner-drivers, with a service that seemed led more by the bus owners-drivers’ personal needs and exigencies.
As a result of that unthanked work, the bus service is now one company rather than a myriad of owners. At that time, it was stated this kind of situation existed only in Africa and not even there. Imagine if Minister Mizzi, instead of riding on top of the wave, had to do the hard work of cajoling and coaxing the bus drivers to give up their rights or pretended rights.
Even so, there are still a number of questions one must ask before the Alesa system takes over. One question, which no doubt will be examined at leisure later on, regards the system of fares.
One readily understands the need to minimise the number of people who pay on the bus as this holds up the entire bus. However, the rather complicated fare structure still needs to be made clear. When this starts to become effective, the people will learn whether the fare structure is cheaper than the Arriva one, as the government is saying, or dearer as the Opposition is saying.
Alesa’s representative has now also stated that Alesa intends to retain the interchange system which has been rather minimised after the end of Arriva. However, one still asks how the interchange system can work once the system has been turned around to a Valletta-centric system from the multipolar system Arriva brought in.