Editorial

Improving the service offered by public buses (which are in fact privately owned) in a meaningful way is a goal which has eluded successive governments.

However, writing elsewhere in this issue, Urban Development and Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett informs us that a wide-ranging agreement is being signed tomorrow between the Malta Transport Authority and the Public Transport Association, representing the bus owner-drivers, which will make sure that "the public is not let down again".

Minister Mugliett is of course referring to previous agreements whereby, in return for the sanctioning of an increase in fares, bus owners undertook to carry out a number of changes. However, these changes were either very few or ineffective in that the general perception of public transport has continued to be a negative one - in fact, the number of public transport users has continued to decline, year after year.

The agreement to be signed tomorrow, for example, includes the payment of Lm2 million in subsidy arrears to be paid out in instalments only after specific measures are carried out. These include the introduction of new routes linking the University and The Strand, Sliema, and several towns and villages, and the introduction of a code of discipline which should make some shameful incidents, many of them involving tourists, a thing of the past. So, will the mould finally be broken?

The whole system in fact needs a thorough overhaul, with better use of buses and of drivers, whose work schedules should be rationalised in order to give a better service, and one that does not stop at 9 p.m., as on many routes, with new and changed routes which ought to reflect changing demographic trends and social requirements.

That is, of course, if Government (and the bus owners' association) seriously wants to encourage more use of public transport, which in this environment-conscious age is a priority. Last week's hiking of fuel prices (not for the last time, one can be sure) should also spur greater use of public transport - and more sparing use of private cars. But will it?

The fact is that public transport so far does not offer a real alternative to the use of private cars. Compared to such countries as Germany, where the system works so efficiently one could time one's movements simply by observing the arrival and departure of buses (and trams, underground and overground trains), public transport in Malta, according to the survey carried out for The Sunday Times, is unsatisfactory to almost half the respondents (45.7 per cent). Those who feel they are well served were 42.7 per cent, while 12 per cent did not reply.

The reasons for dissatisfaction are that buses are irregular, they were also not punctual, and that bus drivers are arrogant. Others mentioned the fact that buses are dirty and that they do not serve certain residential areas.

Of course it would be wrong to generalise. Some, perhaps even the majority, of bus drivers are courteous, while most buses are kept clean (one cannot exclude that they are dirtied by uncaring passengers), but it is the perception that counts.

And although it is thought that bus fares in Malta are cheap, this is not the generally held opinion, at least according to our survey. And, coming to think of it, fares are probably more expensive compared to other countries when worked out on the kilometres travelled and the area covered.

One needs also to look into the fare structure. Day-long or week-long tickets should work out cheaper, in order to encourage more users. Also, a day ticket should cover different bus routes. Logically, then, this should lead to the introduction of passes valid for a month, three months and even a year.

And services need to be extended. How could one encourage greater use of public transport, especially by young people, when buses stop at 9.30 or 11 at the most - a time when, at weekends, most of them are thinking of going out? In a previous sounding out it was found that people are willing to pay more for a better service and specifically for a night service.

And what about catering specifically for tourists? Admittedly, some new routes have been introduced over the years (at special fares), but one finds it almost heart-breaking to see, in summer, long queues of tourists forming at Mosta, for example, waiting interminably for a bus to Mellieha Bay - they do not, of course, stand a chance of boarding a bus as this whizzes by, having left Valletta terminus practically full up! Logic dictates that there should be a direct service from Mosta to Mellieha, to give but one example.

Minister Mugliett seems to be quite optimistic that the agreement being signed tomorrow will lead to real changes. We can only hope he is right.