Student heckles Transport Minister over bus service

A University student yesterday stole the limelight when she heckled Transport Minister Austin Gatt during the launch of a €250,000 ICT project on campus saying he should be “ashamed” of the new bus service.

I’m sorry I made a scene but it’s been four months now and the complaints we lodged have fallen on deaf ears

Those present fell silent and watched 20-year-old Nicolà Abela Garrett who, addressing Dr Gatt, repeatedly shouted: “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

The final-year, theatre studies student said it had taken her two hours to reach her destination by bus. Students, she complained, were missing lectures because of the “ridiculous service”. Yet, Ms Abela Garrett continued, the minister said he lost no sleep following an opposition motion calling for his resignation over the chaotic start to the public transport reform.

Dr Gatt walked away without as much as acknowledging her solo protest at which point the outburst took a vulgar turn with a remark Ms Abela Garrett later said she regretted.

After the incident, a calmer Ms Abela Garrett said that, as a frustrated commuter, she had thought about who was responsible for the irregular service. “I’m not a disruptive student... I’m sorry I swore at the minister but he made me wait in the basking sun for two hours on the bus stop while I’m sure he has his Jaguar.

“I’m sorry I made a scene but it’s been four months now and the complaints we lodged have fallen on deaf ears,” she said, adding she had filed some seven complaints with Arriva’s customer care service people, whom she said were as “clueless” as bus commuters.

She said it took her two hours to travel from Attard to Naxxar yesterday, when the Arriva website said the trip should not take longer than 40 minutes.

Last week, the student said she had arrived late for an appointment she had with her thesis supervisor and in summer it had been “very tiring” to commute to Sliema where she had a job.

Ms Abela Garrett’s Facebook wall was immediately inundated with compliments. Deemed a hero by her Facebook friends, the young student’s action stirred opposing reactions from timesofmalta.com readers. While some commended her freedom of speech, others criticised the fact that she was vulgar.

University officials approached her after the incident and told her the language was unbecoming and that the campus was not the place for such complaints.

Some four hours later, ­Transport Malta issued a statement about the Mater Dei Hospital/University of Malta direct service, saying that 45 buses an hour served the link and these would increase to 52 when the remaining connections kicked off.

“At this point, every locality in Malta will have a direct link both to Mater Dei Hospital and to the University... Compared to the 22 buses per hour which operated within the old service, it is clear that both frequency and connectivity have drastically increased,” a TM spokesman said.

TM insisted that while it was still early to evaluate service consumption, the increase in traffic since Monday had affected travelling time.

“Buses are definitely not overloaded when terminating at Mater Dei or the University,” it added. The Times has however witnessed buses filled to capacity unable to take on more passengers from Mater Dei to their respective destinations.

Several students insisted that during the first three days of this scholastic year they experienced delays of up to an hour in their arrival at the University.

The increase in traffic since Monday has affected travelling time

The Labour Party has launched a public transport campaign calling on the public to recommend amendments to the routes to provide the “best possible service”. Opinions are being welcomed on trasportpubbliku@partitlaburista.org.