Malta Public Transport should look into why, last Monday, passengers at Cirkewwa, who had returned from Gozo, had to wait for 45 minutes to board the 42 or 41 bus.

Their ferry docked at Cirkewwa at 1pm, and it was not until 1.45pm that a 42 (or was it 41?) bus came to pick them up. To make matters worse this same bus was already in Cirkewwa, parked outside the terminal, all the time the passengers had been waiting for a bus.

Although there is shelter from the sun, where passengers wait for their bus, there was no breeze and it was stifling hot.

Incredibly, during that time, four 222 buses and three 221 buses came, plus another bus, would you believe it, also came to take anyone going to Gnejna, and two airport buses. Moreover, on their last two calls, both the 221 and 222 buses, did not board any passengers as there was no one there waiting. To add insult to injury another five buses came along, displaying a 'Sorry Not in Service' notice.

MPT should follow this up and see why this happened. Having said all this, I do not want to be unduly critical – the bus service is good, so are the buses – they rattle only where the roads are badly in need of a new layer of tarmac. The buses also keep to their scheduled time in stopping at bus stages fairly well. But there are still some improvements that need looking into.

If MPT had taken Manuel Delia, of Arriva fame, on its books, it will rue the day.

 

Roger Mifsud 

Rabat