Transport Minister Joe Mizzi has denied claims that public bus frequencies have decreased, insisting that complaints have been localised to specific areas, such as San Gwann.

In a press conference this morning, Minister Mizzi also added that there will be further changes to the existing bus routes in the coming weeks.

The press conference was held to launch the Malta Maritime Summit, which is to be held in October.

In recent weeks, many students and people needing to visit Mater Dei Hospital have taken to social media to complain about the current situation. Minister Mizzi acknowledged that the service still has some issues. He said that Transport Malta is still trying to handle most of the complaints.

“We have noted each complaint and will try to improve where it is possible for us to improve,” he said.

He did not provide concrete dates as to when the changes will be rolled out, however said that specific details will be provided at a later stage. He added that improvements and alterations will continue to be made until the overall standard is raised.

Minister Mizzi also added that “with the exact route system in place today Arriva would have demanded a higher subsidy than what Alesa is getting.”

In reply, Shadow Minister Marthese Portelli said the minister's statement is a confirmation that the government has failed miserably in the public transport sector.

The situation today is much worse than it was when Labour was elected to government, and the taxpayer is paying €30 million in subsidies, three times as much as Arriva used to get.

All we have seen under Joe Mizzi is a reform of the reform of yet another reform, Dr Portelli said.

In reply, the government said that the PN's intentions are to hinder the government's reform. Today, more people are using public transport thanks to the initiatives taken by the government. Twenty-four new routes were introduced and buses were travelling 2.5 million kilometres more.