For nearly two months, residents of Cospicua have been suffering varying degrees of inconvenience and, in many cases, hardship, as a result of the new bus service. This is a direct result of (a) removal of the old route No.1 from Vittoriosa to Valletta, which covered the upper part of Cospicua, as well as Tal-Ħawli, and (b) the fact that the new bus route No.3 comes all the way from Xgħajra, which means buses are pretty much full-up by the time they reach the old Vittoriosa terminus, now termed “Riche”, and often only standing room is available.

The situation is better in the case of Bus No.2, which unloads at Vittoriosa, but the frequency of this route is still not up to schedule. In addition, the bus is not always empty when it leaves Vittoriosa as it often contains passengers who boarded at points along the outward run and preferred to go to Valletta through Vittoriosa rather than wait for long periods at bus stops.  I have personally seen this happen at Paola.

This means that residents in the Tal-Ħawli area now have to walk all the way to “Riche” to catch a bus.

Those in the Santa Margherita, Verdala, Alexandra Street and San Nikola areas of Cospicua have to do the same, or walk right down to the seafront. This involves a walk of up to one kilometre.  There are quite a number of elderly persons residing in these areas, and some people simply cannot make it.

The only alternative would be to take a No. 121 bus (which passes along part of the route the old bus No. 1 used to cover) and then change, either at Paola or at Cospicua seafront, to a No. 2 or No. 3 bus for Valletta.   This involves the inconvenience of having to change buses and, in any case, the frequency (or non-frequency) of Route 121 renders this alternative impractical.

The inconvenience is spilling over onto the lower part of Cospicua. People who normally catch the bus from the seafront (near the Band Club) have now become used to seeing buses (particularly the No. 3) pass by without stopping, as they are already full. It has become impossible to get a seat on a bus if boarding from this stage or further on. The situation has not been improved by the fact that Arriva are using small-type buses for the No. 2 and No. 3 routes.

Although the situation has improved slightly during the last month, the basic problems remain, and the only possible solution is for Transport Malta and Arriva to re-introduce the equivalent of the old No.1 route between Cospicua and Valletta with roughly the same frequency. This will both cater for the needs of residents in the upper areas of the city and ease the pressure on the rest. No other measure can really alleviate the situation.