Bus users up by three per cent since July

Patronage of the bus service has gone up by three per cent since July, Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett said in Parliament.

Speaking during the debate on the estimates of the Transport Authority, the minister said that although much remained to be done in this sector, progress had been registered. Two years ago new routes had been introduced for the Junior College and the University. In their first year these routes carried 122,000 passengers. Last year they carried 261,000 and in the first two months of the current academic year 119,000 passengers had already been carried.

Mr Mugliett said that although the latest annual figures showed a decline in the number of bus users, the popularity of the new services to the Junior College and the University meant that hundreds of users now no longer needed to take two buses.

He said another new route, to Valletta waterfront, introduced just over a month ago, was already carrying 1,000 passengers a week.

Several other routes had been introduced, modified or made more frequent and it had been observed, Mr Mugliett said, that since July the patronage of the buses had risen by three per cent.

Mr Mugliett said the over-riding priority in the reform process of the bus service was affordability and that it would continue to address all current routes, while extending to new ones. It was hoped that a position on the long-term evolution of the bus service, in line with EU rules, would be announced in six months time.

In his speech Mr Mugliett spoke briefly about the various roles of the ADT, notably road building, traffic management, vehicle testing and licensing and the management of public transport.

He said significant progress was made over the past year in the white taxi service. All white taxis now had a meter and operators were covered by a code of ethics. The ADT was looking at initiatives to make the use of taxis more popular, even with the Maltese.

A very successful reform had been made in the licence renewal system. Gone were the queues at Hornworks Ditch, with a third of vehicle licences now being renewed online.

In the last budget the government reduced taxes on VRT testing and on vintage cars registration.

Mr Mugliett said opposition speakers in their comments about the new roads had criticised cost over-runs but said nothing about the huge volume of work that had been carried out and was ongoing.

True, in some cases costs had risen by as much as 50 per cent, but one had to see how the projects had evolved. In the case of the Hal Far road, for example, after tenders were awarded, the Water Services Corporation requested a new sewage connection which pushed up costs. On the Zebbug road, a new service road costing some Lm300,000 had been added.

There were cases where diversions were caused by the discovery of historical remains or utility services were found to be in a worse position than expected and needed to be replaced. There had also been a case where after a tender was awarded, Wasteserv introduced new tariffs for dumping and the Contracts Department agreed to compensate the contractors accordingly.

The minister said works on six major roads were currently under way. The Hal Far road was nearing completion. This project was meant to take 72 weeks but had been advanced to 52 weeks. Now one could drive all the way from Birzebbuga to Ghajn Tuffieha on new roads built by this government.

Mr Mugliett said only the opposition criticised the traffic management related to the works on Manoel Dimech bridge. It was true this work had caused concerns for the leisure industry and these were being addressed as much as possible, but the work which had to be carried out and every period of the year had its problems.

Works on the other roads had their own problems, he said. This was particularly so for Mgarr Road, the only access road from most destinations in Gozo to the harbour. It was hoped that this project would be completed by the summer and would also not interrupt carnival.

Mr Mugliett said the government and the ADT were planning ahead for a major road works programme funded by the EU. The first two tenders, for Valletta Road in Zurrieq and part of Birkirkara Bypass between the Bathroom Design and Vodafone roundabouts would be issued in the coming weeks.

In Gozo, priority would be given to the Victoria-San Lawrenz and Mgarr-Ghajnsielem roads.

It was worth noting, Mr Mugliett said, that since 2002 a quarter of Malta's arterial and distributor roads had been rebuilt, which was no mean achievement.

But for the opposition, the highlight of the past year had been the bribery case involving driving examiners. This had been a worrying case, but the government had reacted to it by changing processes and reporting systems to deter the possibility of a repetition.

It was significant, the minister continued, that the opposition speakers had said absolutely nothing about the building of new residential roads. Clearly the government had taken the wind out of their sails. The government had published its extensive programme, complete with deadlines and was introducing period contracts in order to ensure efficiency. Of 450 roads, tenders had already been issued for 100. Early next year would see an explosion of work across residential roads all over Malta.

The Transport Authority was also exploring new modes of transport. A call had been made for open top buses, after requests by the toursm sector. There was strong interest in investment in trackless trains while it was expected that a contract for electric cabs would be awarded shortly. Feasibility studies were made on a project for new vertical connections in Valletta and the government had decided that the contract term would be extended to 15 years from the projected 10 to ensure profitability.

A percentage of EU funding would also be allocated for intelligent management traffic systems where cameras and traffic lights would be managed according to traffic flow.

Referring to the Park and Ride scheme, Mr Mugliett said this had been an overwhelming success. The opposition had forgotten how Dr Sant had said this was a half-baked project, or how spokesman Charles Buhagiar had said it would cause traffic tailbacks in Blata l-Bajda. Last Sunday alone 2,500 passengers were carried from the car park. Surveys conducted since the service was introduced had shown how this project had attracted more people to go to Valletta, Mr Mugliett said.

The estimates were later approved, the opposition voting against. Remarks by opposition speakers are being reported separately.