Arriva announces more new routes
The latest Arriva changes will ensure a service that promises to meet customer expectations. Photo: Jason Borg
Transport operator Arriva has introduced new bus routes and amended others which will come into effect on Sunday – their self-imposed 9/11 deadline to provide a “fully-fledged service”.
“The introduction of the new routes continues to refine transport services following feedback by passengers and consultation with local councils and other entities,” Transport Malta said in a statement.
The changes will ensure a service that promises to meet customer expectations and the operator will be providing customers with information about the service enhancements, the authority said.
This is the second set of changes after Arriva took over the public transport service on July 3 – the first batch was announced 20 days after its launch.
The highly anticipated service has been bogged down with problems, mainly due to the fact that about 180 bus drivers failed to turn up for work on the very first day of service. Many commuters have also complained bitterly about the new routes, the long waiting times and trips, and the lack of air conditioning on some buses. Following harsh criticism from all quarters, Arriva said that September 11, a date associated with the bombing of New York’s Twin Towers in 2001, was its deadline to “provide a service we want and are expected to provide”.
Meanwhile, Transport Malta said “other changes will be announced and introduced in due course”
New routes in Malta
Route 54: New route linking Attard and Balzan with a direct connection to Valletta in addition to existing services. The service will be provided every 30 minutes.
Routes 33 & 34: New routes to serve Swieqi with direct connections to Valletta and Mater Dei Hospital. The last stop of route 33 will be every hour in Tal-Ibraġ, while route 34 will end every hour in Xgħajra providing a combined 30-minute frequency through central Swieqi, returning via the Pembroke park-and-ride bus stop on the main road.
Route X6: New express from Ċirkewwa to Valletta with limited stops in Mellieħa, Mosta, Birkirkara, Fleur-de-Lys and Floriana. It will be scheduled to reflect the Gozo ferry timetable to provide a faster transport connection between Valletta and Gozo.
Route 83: New route to serve Sta Luċija with a direct hourly connection to Valletta, in addition to existing services to Paola.
Route 84: New route to serve Ta’ Ganza and Ħal Tmiem in Żejtun with a direct hourly connection to Valletta in addition to services on route 81.
Amended routes in Malta
Existing route 106: This service, which connects Attard and Balzan to Mater Dei Hospital, will be half hourly instead of on the hour.
Route 72: Route is revised to serve central Luqa on its outbound and return journeys from Valletta.
Route X1: This route has extra journeys added and will be better coordinated with the Gozo ferry to provide a faster transport connection between Mater Dei Hospital, Malta International Airport and Gozo.
Route 22/32: Route is revised to serve Rue D’Argens in Gżira in both directions with a direct Valletta and Mater Dei Hospital connection.
Route 43: Route modified to serve the Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School in Naxxar with a direct connection to Valletta every 15 minutes.
Route 202: Route to provide improved direct connections to Mater Dei Hospital from Rabat, Mosta and Attard.
Route 3: Route is modified to improve access within the village of Xgħajra.
Route 123: Service will be extended to include Pembroke and provide a new direct service to St Julians and Mater Dei Hospital and maintain links to the Pembroke interchange after the discontinuation of routes 114 and 115.
Routes 114 and 115: These are being discontinued
Amended routes in Gozo
Route 301: Route modified to improve access within central Xewkija and rescheduled with the Gozo ferry to provide a faster transport connection from Malta to Victoria.
Route 303: Route revised to improve access to central Għajnsielem.
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19 Comments
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Daniel Muscat
Sep 8th 2011, 18:08
finally we have a bus from Balzan to Valletta.. because as it was, the bus service here had not improved at all. however there is still no direct connection from the north of malta to the south.
Mark Jones
Sep 7th 2011, 23:03
We were promised an X5 running through Gudja and Hal-Ghaxaq, where people have complained since we have had no bus service to speak of following the re-organization - why am I laughing as I type the word 'organization;?
The X5 seems to have disappeared.
When Arriva promised to have things sorted out by September 11th, they didn't stipulate a year.
Let's face it, the service is sh*t, the buses are sh*t, the drivers, so polite during the first few weeks, are now reverting to type. And WE STILL HAVE NO PROPER BUS SERVICE IN HAL-GHAXAQ.
GATT OUT
TM OUT
ARRIVA OUT
K. Vella
Sep 7th 2011, 07:57
Where is Route 81!?!
We were promised that the route will be revised removing the Marsa P+R and Hamrun....
I hope that both Transport Malta and Arriva use some common sense and revise such unorthodox route.
A Saliba
Sep 6th 2011, 21:29
Why isn't the direct bus from M'scala to Mater Dei re-introduced? This is a very much needed bus as not only people to go to Mater Dei use it but come October it will be full up with Uni Students. Another thing, When we had the old system , during the mornings another bus to Mater Dei used to leave from Zabbar Terminus on the hour. now we've lost both.
Bus No. 121 (Xaghjra circular) previously known as Bus No. 21 which used to make direct trips from Xaghjra (via Zabbar, Fgura and Paola) to Valletta and back was an essential route. One cannot imagine why this route was removed. It was used by not only the Xghajra commuters but Zabbar commuters also those living on the outskirts, Fgura people etc. It was a very much used route and was one of the best especially on busy mornings during the week. The only problem was to improve the time departures by at least 15 minutes instead of half hour intervals. For the convenience of the commuters who use this bus regularly, necessary action should be taken for this route to be re-introduced once again as was before, that is direct to Valletta via Zabbar, Fgura and Paola.
Another problem created was route No.124 of the Zonqor bus. This leaves from Zejtun through Zabbar M’Scala via ByPass through Zonqor and back to Zejtun. The couple of times the Zonqor bus was seen it was going around empty. When it was previously known as the 17 bus it used to leave hourly from Valletta taking the same route as the 91 bus today but instead it used to run via Zonqor. This was a very useful route as many people used to use it not only in summer but in winter as well.
I appeal to the authorities to revise again their homework in setting up these new routes. It is clear enough that commuters were very satisfied with the old routes. The only problem was to add more routes where necessary.
People of the South seem to be forgotten where the new routes are concerned.
Nicole Mifsud
Sep 6th 2011, 20:01
1. Nixtieq li jaghmlu rotta ohra li tghaddi mill-Fgura ghall-Belt ghax il-Fgura dejjem tasal full-up minn Mscala.. Allinqas jibdew wahda minn Haz Zabbar.. u ohra, Mater Dei mhux daqshekk accessibli daqs kemm kien qabel.. specjalment meta jibdew l istudenti li jkunu jridu jaslu fil-hin ghal-lectures.. Nispera li jkun hemm xi tibdiliet lejn is south!
Catherine Caruana
Sep 6th 2011, 16:36
A very big disgrace about Arriva buses after nearly being in operation for two months is that there is no proper depature time on all routes from the Valletta bus terminus. When we had the old bus system you knew where you stood because there was a bus to all the villages in Malta every quarter or half hour.I cannot understand how come, that with all those despatchers being employed with Arriva so far there has not been established a fixed departure time!!A real shame indeed Arriva.
Anthony Pace
Sep 6th 2011, 19:24
That's because there are now only 15 stands at the behest of the transport minister and the drivers have to queue up to go to their respective stand. Hence they are unable to keep time!!
Answer is simple: Use the Tritons terminus. It was designed to have a stand for every village of the island back in the late fifties. we are now back to the infancy of public transport.
Edmund Cefai
Sep 6th 2011, 14:13
What about us residents of Fgura. Is arriva trying to solve our problem of being left stranded, because during the morning rush most of the buses pass by full up and are not passing by every 10 mins as they should be doing.
John Spiteri
Sep 6th 2011, 12:50
I am missing something here, what about route 91, I thought they were going to amend it, to include St Thomas Bay (as was it used to be with the old system and as was planned on the maps sent to us by Arriva)
Also thought that our Council has sorted this out for us.
Ms Francesca Abela
Sep 6th 2011, 21:02
This is because people in the South are treated as second class people, Arriva and Transport Malta cannot say they dont know about the problems on Bus 91 in Marsascala, they even said in July after the complaints that this route wouyld be amended.
What a joke. Shame on all of Arriva and Transport Malta for again ignoring the wishes of Marsascala residents and for causing hardship for people with physical disabilities by making them stay at home locked in as they cannot walk 20-30 minutes to get to the Terminus for the Valletta bus.
John Bencini
Sep 6th 2011, 12:29
No mention is being made of the plight facing residents living in Psaila Street, St. Venera and its vicinities. We had a direct roiute to Valletta before ARRIVA took over. Now we are constrained to take bus 125 ( when it arrives) to Mater Dei and then take another bus (when it arrives) to Valletta. What used to take a ten minute bus ride to Valletta now takes ONE HOUR AND A HALF or more to get to Valletta and another one hour and a half to return.!!
Louis Saliba
Sep 6th 2011, 12:04
".... Route 202: Route to provide direct connections to Mater Dei Hospital from Rabat, Mosta and Attard. ..... Route 123: Service will be extended to include Pembroke and provide a new direct service to Mater Dei Hospital ...." What about other parts of Malta, particularly the South - don't they rate a direct service to the Hospital? Or are outpatients and visiting relatives of inpatients considered as second class citizens vis-a-vis those from the North?
Anthony Pace
Sep 6th 2011, 09:36
Mr Bastow Balzan and Attard were connected to Valletta by a bus no 41 which ran every 15 minutes and picked up passengers en route from B'kara and Msida and ended up in Valletta full and not every 30 minutes.
It is obvious that you are trying to run the public transport service on a shoe-string. For that you can go back home and graze the cows in your pasteurs green. We do not want you here. We are now an independent nation and ied tied to Great Britain even tough we are in the EU.
Mr G Psaila
Sep 6th 2011, 09:32
Some things never change....yesterday the Rabat driver left the engine running, hopped off his bus & went to buy a drink from a pastizzi place in Hamrun, leaving a whole busload waiting !!!
J. De Bono
Sep 6th 2011, 09:30
What a mess, I personally believe Arriva would be better off just using the old bus routes as they clearly do not understand Malta transport needs. Over two months and the system is still in chaos, people complaining on every stop, buses still not using the bays properly and causing traffic jams every time and Arriva bus is around. Seriously why don’t Arriva management take a step back, admit they have no idea what they are doing and are just using a trail and error system which is seriously damaging Malta on a whole as people are still late for work and certain areas are feeling the spender pinch as nearly everyone i meet does what ever they can to avoid taking an Arriva bus. Thanks TM for bringing this upon the people....great stuff.
Carmen Borg
Sep 6th 2011, 09:08
why aren't the changes being implemented at the same time. When the new system was introduced on 3rd July, all routes were changed on the same day. Is this discrimination? People coming from Paola have to wait for a bus to get on, and then go on a tour before reaching Valletta. Surely its not fun when you have to get to work on time every day of the week!!
Carmen Borg
Anthony Pace
Sep 6th 2011, 09:04
What about bus no 42 going on to Bugibba instead of stopping at Targa Gap and that would then replace the old bus 49 and run every 10 minutes? instead of the poor service now being provided.
Klaus Pedersen
Sep 6th 2011, 08:25
Why was route 81 not changed? It takes a ridiculous amount of time to get to Valletta with this route. It had been said earlier that this route would be revised. The long de-tour into the horserace track's parking lot is a massive waste of time.
Catherine Caruana
Sep 6th 2011, 07:23
Please Arriva authorities do take note of route no.3 before changes are implemented.There is no bus that passes through st.Liberata road while coming from Valletta on its way to Kalkara.On this road there live quite a considerable number of residents some of them old while others are students at Mcast who have to take the bus.At one time when the old buses were in action there used to be this route. Is it a big deal for route no. 3 to pass through this road then through The ITALIAN MISSION Road on its way to XGHAJRA?We residents living in St. Liberata street are utterly disgusted about the way the change took place without taking consideration of the needs of us residents living here.