Malta Public Transport carried 53.4 million passengers in 2018, setting a new record in public transport. This represents an increase of 11.3% over 2017, when the company carried 48 million passengers in a year, the MPT said this evening.

"We are very proud to be carrying 14 million people more than we carried in our first year of operation," said Konrad Pulé, General Manager of Malta Public Transport. "This constant growth in numbers is a clear sign that the confidence in public transport is increasing. Our thanks goes to all our passengers, who are choosing to travel by bus instead of using a car."

The routes carrying the most passengers were those serving Sliema, St Julian's, Bugibba and Cirkewwa, with route 13/13A carrying over 3 million passengers in a year. Other routes increasing in popularity include routes serving the Mater Dei and university bus stops, which have seen passenger numbers increase by 13%.

The busiest day was 8 August, with over 186,000 passengers travelling on the day in question. This was another record given that the highest amount of passengers that used the bus service in any day in 2017 was 164,000.

"Once again we would also like to thank all our employees as this success would have not been possible without their dedication and commitment", explained Mr Pulé. "These results encourage us to continue working hard to improve our bus service further in order to attract more and more people to use the bus, with the aim of reducing the number of cars on our roads."