The Nationalist Party said Saturday that the decision to deduct €5 from a person's Tallinja Card if it is not used for a year raises an obvious question: if we want to encourage more people to use public transport, why are we penalising those who, for whatever reason, do not use it for a period of time?
Under Malta Public Transport's (MPT) new terms, a personalised Tallinja Card that has not been used or topped up for 365 days may be considered inactive.
If it contains a balance, €5 may be deducted from the card following a notice period. This penalty may be applied again for every year that the card remains inactive. This measure runs completely counter to the direction Malta should be taking on sustainable mobility, the PN said.
The government is funding free public transport in the hope that more people will choose the bus instead of their private car. People who have a Tallinja Card but have not used it for a year are precisely those whom we need to attract back to public transport. Instead, the Government is penalising them.
When one considers how other systems operate, it becomes even more difficult to understand why this decision was taken. London's well-known Oyster Card does not expire, the PN said. In London, where passengers pay for their journeys, pay-as-you-go credit remains on the card indefinitely, even if the card is not used for a prolonged period.
The Maltese Government must therefore intervene, first and foremost, to ensure that this decision is reviewed immediately. Moreover, the Government must explain who approved this penalty, how many people could be affected and how much revenue is expected to be collected through these charges.It makes no sense to invest millions of euros in public funds to encourage people to use buses, only to charge them because they have not used the service for a period of time.
A serious sustainable mobility policy should remove barriers to the use of public transport-not create new ones where none existed, the PN said.
The statement was signed by Ivan Castillo, Shadow Minister for Sustainable Mobility.