New ideas that disrupted bus service (1)

Now that some time has passed, I feel that Arriva and the transport authority who, presumably, ar­ranged the routes, have made a blunder as regards the ex-routes from San Ġwann via Ta’ Giorni to Valletta and vice versa, the old bus number 42.

This route had three buses passing every hour, on the hour, and every 20 minutes from 5.30 a.m. till late. It went down Birkirkara Hill, through Mrabat to Savoy Hill, Gżira and to Msida, or Regional Road, past University and down to Msida, reaching Valletta in quite a reasonable time and providing a service to all the localities mentioned.

Now there is a haphazard service of, maybe, a bus 123, passing through Ta’ Giorni Road, if it passes at all, and going all the way to Mater Dei Hospital. Then one has to change buses, go on to the Sliema Ferries and then to Valletta, taking more than an hour to arrive.

Why? When there was such an efficient service before, why disrupt it with new fangled, annoying and time-wasting ideas?

Could there be just one bus going to Mater Dei, say on the hour, every hour, and the others, during the time in between, taking the old route and giving a service to Ta’ Giorni, Mrabat, Savoy and upper part of Gżira, allowing people to reach University and Valletta in a reasonable time? Hope this is done sooner not later so that Arriva and Transport Malta will be in the forefront of people’s gratitude and not their complaints and grumblings.