Disgruntled commuters have, over the past weeks, turned to their local councils to voice concern about changes in bus routes when Arriva took over the public transport service in July, which, they say, has made it more difficult for them to reach their destination on time.
Nationalist Pietà mayor Malcolm Mifsud said the system “isn’t working” and people have started looking for an alternative way to reach their destination, giving up on the service.
He said people were, “quite understandably”, comparing the present service with the previous one, when route bus 75, running between Mater Dei Hospital and Valletta, would take 15 minutes to reach the city from Pietà.
The local council was inundated with complaints from residents and Dr Mifsud said donors had been finding it difficult to travel by bus to the Blood Bank adjacent to St Luke’s Hospital.
Commuters on bus route 122, travelling between the Marsa park-and-ride and Valletta through Pietà, have to alight next to The Mall, in Floriana, and not near Christ the King monument outside the Phoenicia Hotel like other route buses.
The other route, 125, takes commuters all the way to the Birkirkara bus terminus before reaching Mater Dei. Some residents, therefore, ditch waiting for this bus and instead walk to Msida to catch a bus from there.
Commuters had not complained about frequency and cleanliness but about the rerouting of a once convenient trip, Dr Mifsud said. Residents were collecting signatures for a petition, which will be presented to Transport Malta and Arriva. Dr Mifsud said the council supported the initiative.
About six weeks ago, the local council had forwarded the residents’ complaints to Transport Malta and a meeting with the Transport Ministry followed. However, to the local council’s dismay, its recommendations were not included in the alterations that Arriva made to its routes recently, Dr Mifsud said.
Fgura mayor Byron Camilleri also expressed his disappointment at not receiving any replies from Arriva after the local council requested a meeting on August 1.
Mr Camilleri said the council received complaints on a daily basis and although Arriva said it would take action about the complaints the problems born when the new service was launched had not yet been resolved.
Bus route 91, departing from Marsascala, reaches Fgura full-up most of the time, thus leaving commuters stranded on bus stops for a long time. The council itself conducted a study on Wednesday, noting the bus frequency from bus stop Punika, one of the five stages on the main road of the 13,000-resident town. From its observations it concluded that bus frequency through Fgura was not uniform.
At one instance, while three buses passed through the locality between 7.18 a.m. and 7.22 a.m., the following bus passed by 18 minutes later, when the maximum waiting time for passengers should be 10 minutes, Mr Camilleri said.
Residents also insisted that buses were scarce, and sometimes absent, between 5.30 a.m. and 6.15 a.m., making it impossible for early birds to make it to work on time. Route bus 91 replaced the six route buses that used to pass through the main road before July 3, he noted.