Public transport use has increased by around 15% from last month, Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia has told The Malta Independent.

Public transport was made free for everyone in possession of a tallinja card on 1 October.

Asked whether the number of public transport users has increased since the implementation of this scheme, Farrugia said "yes they have increased".

He said that the number of tallinja cards have increased a lot when compared to the previous years.

Minister Farrugia said that there was a slowdown during the Covid period, but it is recovering well.

The minister added that the data is not yet comparable to 2019, but it is increasing at a very good rate.

He added that after having spoken to the operator, they can confirm that they are seeing encouraging numbers.

He also said that by the end of January, he is going to have an internal meeting with the operator and regulator to take stock of the situation. Among the topics, they will look at routes, will see whether there is enough supply for the demand, they will discuss where the new 25 electric buses will be used, whether more buses are needed, etc.

"We have a lot of work to do in January so that the Maltese will have a real tangible alternative mode of transport."

Although the free public transport scheme has been a "success", traffic is still a major issue. When asked what he plans to do in the future, he said that they are looking to address the morning peak hours, when there are 70,000 cars on the road at once.

He said that they plan on holding meetings with entities that provide jobs, service providers, hospitals, courts, and educational facilities, so that through cooperation at Cabinet level he would have the facility to spread out those numbers.

"Besides that, we need to reduce cars on the road. To do this we must strengthen public transport, this is a big goal for me in 2023." He said that they will continue to explore “and we are doing a lot on” the possibility of mass public transport.