Arriva: bus service preparations 'on time'

Arriva officials stressed today that preparations for the introduction of the new bus service are on time in Bugibba. The assurance was given as  Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt was shown around the new major interchange at Bugibba.

The interchange will combine mainline and feeder services in the North of Malta, with 18 buses leaving from Bugibba every hour.

The interchange, behind the Dolmen Hotel, features several bus bays, ticketing machines and real-time electronic information boards.

Dr Gatt said the interchanges were crucial for the new bus network to make the modal shift from car to bus travel, more so since a  household travel survey showed that 98 per cent of people who used their cars did not travel to Valletta. Moreover, 38 per cent of Mellieha drivers used their car mainly to access Mellieha. The northern locality would, therefore, have a local bus service.

The purpose of the reform, he said, was not to refashion the old system using new buses, but to change the people's mentality and to encourage them to prefer the buses instead of their cars.

Replying to other questions, the minister said he did not know how much Arriva would be paid in compensation after having to alter its bus routes away from Bisazza Street in Sliema.