Please allow me to express my concerns and dismay regarding the Arriva buses passing (rather frequently) through Rudolph Street on to Mrabat Street, Sliema and vice versa.

As the authorities and Arriva may be aware, these roads are already quite overloaded beyond capacity with vehicular traffic at peak times of the day (Malta Transport Authority internal memo of March 2007), with 8,621,300 vehicles going through Rudolph Street, 7,833,995 through Mrabat Street and with 8,815,115 through Rue D’Argens every year (Draft Noise Action Plan For The Maltese Islands, May 2011).

Not only, but traffic jams in these streets/roads are a frequent and repeated daily occurrence with the resultant air and noise pollution caused by motor vehicle traffic (Air Quality Plan For The Maltese Islands, January 2010 and Draft Noise Action Plan, May 2011).

Perhaps not surprisingly, both Transport Malta and Arriva seem to have ignored the fact that Mrabat Street has at least two “notorious” bottleneck “black spots”, one shown and another one, a very narrow stretch near Coppini-Belmont guest house, whereby only one vehicle can get through.

I am concerned that with the new and rather very frequent (every five to 10 minutes) Transport Malta routes and with the large Arriva buses passing through these narrow roads, traffic jam problems (photo taken even at off-peak hours, at about 3 p.m.), with the resultant motor vehicle traffic air and noise pollution (including motorists repeatedly honking desperately their horns at every traffic jam situation – one even went out of his car in despair as the photo shows), will increase significantly, thereby adversely affecting residents’ health and quality of life.

Perhaps the “new” bus system has only taken into consideration “commuters’” needs, while ignoring residents’ health and quality of life.

Frankly I question how “wise” it was to increase the frequency and direction of bus routes through the rather narrow and already overloaded Rudolph and Mrabat streets in Sliema.

Apparently, “public consultation” did not feature in this “new” public transport project.

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