Interview with Transport Minister Austin Gatt tomorrow

Paul Borg

Oct 16th 2011, 08:44

So Mr Minister, how about an apology for calling the Maltese Grumblers . Even your own people will be happy to see you go

Carmel Xuereb

Oct 16th 2011, 07:25

U ma tafx li l-affarijiet jitrangaw malajr meta l-oppozizzjoni turi r-rieda soda, ghax ghamlet mozzjoni ta' sfiducja f'Gatt u siehbu (fil-partit biss ghax f'ghemilu hu wisq iktar ragem minnu) qal li se jastjieni is-sur Gatt ghaggel u habbar dak li minn dejjem kien sewwa ir-rotot l-antiki biex issa forsi jsalva minn dan il-vot u jekk verametn Dr. Debono jzomm kellmtu fil-parlament u l-vot jigi pari l-ispeaker irid izomm ma l-oppozizzjoni bil-fors u b'hekk nahseb ikollna nahseb ghall-ewwel darba fl-istorja sfiducja f'MINISTRU li qazzizna b'ghemilu u l-imgieba tieghu, dak li jahsibna xi merhla naghag, minghalih. Nispera li Dr. Debono din id-darba jzomm kellmtu ghax jekk le nistghu nghidu li inti qieghed fl-istess keffa mieghu.

A. Mizzi

Oct 15th 2011, 21:31

Calling Minister names , gets results! One should do it more often!

Prosit Nicola, you showed us and Minister Gatt the way forward and thanks to you we will be going to SQUARE ONE, shorter routes and direct routes from Villages to Valletta!
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Now Minister Gatt can maybe get the 400,000 Euros paid to Contants who did the Arriva Routes REFUNDED! tHAT IS TAX-PAYER'S MONEY and not Party Funds!
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Maybe Minister Gatt can also give us back the Park & Ride back to us and FREE or at least with a reasonable tariff..... or do we have to look up further names to call Minister Gatt before we get some action?!

Philip Grima

Oct 15th 2011, 20:57

Armchair critics par excellence! Smelling a little blood they cannot resist putting the boot in. And who is to blame them. The minister is self confident ,outspoken, brash and doesn't suffer fools gladly - " attributes " that understandably do not endear him to many. No problem with his conscience, however - he sleeps soundly. What's for sure is that he can take both flak and constructive criticism. Dr.Gatt's civilized reaction to the student's insults and provocations is proof enough of this. Franco Debono typifies " The Hate Austin Gatt Brigade". Chances are that Dr.Gatt has deservedly given him a good rollicking for acting like a spoilt child on so many occasions and is now childishly trying to get his own back.
Dr.Gatt has successfully engineered phase one of the public transport re organization,i.e. ridding us of the belching buses,unpleasant drivers and an inefficient system which rewarded the bus owners for their inefficiencies. Phase two included selecting the service provider and securing the best deal possible. Phase three didn't go as smoothly as one was hoping for. This is unfortunate as the initial enthusiasm and expectations people had has ebbed and it will take some time before confidence is restored. However it hasn't been all bad. The buses are a vast improvement and the drivers without compere. Gozo has also not fared too badly. The bottom line is that Arriva has yet to get its act together. Transport Malta may have been involved with planning the routes but the schedule, which Arriva endorsed, is their responsibility and are bound to deliver accordingly.
What is for sure is that Dr.Gatt, who has never shied away from a challenge, must regret that things have not gone exactly to plan, and will not rest before the whole system is up to the standard we were led to expect.

Joseph E Briffa

Oct 15th 2011, 20:28

The new system is too complicated for most of the locals: they have been used to walking 5 minutes to the village square by the church, where the old bus is parked when it is, climb a couple of incredibly high steps and, after squeezing their huge frame through the narrow entrance, waddle through the aisle and slump on the nearest empty seat, then sit tight and hold on to the round handle of the seat in front them. They don't have to bother to read - even if they could - any information on time of departure or destination - who cares as long as one is sitting , albeit not so comfortably; and don't all buses eventually end up in Valetta? This has always been the case.so why should one expect otherwise

albert pace

Oct 15th 2011, 19:42

The victim of pjazza campus Ms garett has manged to force the arrogant minister to make a U Turn and to revert to the old proven system. If it was not for Ms Garett we would still have to live with the new routes introduced by Austin Gatt. Maybe we should erect a monument to this hero. Thanks to her the economy will not be loosing more money in the form of late arrival at the place of work. It is a pity that we will be loosing lots of repaet tourists next year due to the disatrous public transport in summer .

Mr Alfred Spiteri

Oct 15th 2011, 19:35

Hi we need 240 more buses at the moment there is 260 buses get the 240 buses and everything will fit in place simple

Joseph Calleja

Oct 15th 2011, 19:11

We definitely need more people to comment on this subject and others, Please tell all your friends to come on in. It is interesting how many pros and cons there are and that is good.

Mr Mario Mifsud

Oct 15th 2011, 19:09

Although I agree that the Public Transport reform was ill-prepared, I am not convinced that it would not have worked if the reform had been introduced with the old routes and the changes to routes adopted gradually. I am against the big bang policy in principle, since I believe that such changes would in most cases have an ulterior motive.

E. Vassallo

Oct 15th 2011, 17:48

A minister who really delivers nothwithstanding the Arriva teething problems. The PN will surely miss your candidature. And Franco, stop being an attention seeker...you are ruining your own chances of being reelected.

Lawrence Jay

Oct 15th 2011, 17:36

The problems we have with Arriva is Austin Gatt!!

mark borg

Oct 15th 2011, 17:28

Do not waste any more time in interviews: Do yourself (and the rest of us)one big favour and resign ,if you still have a penny of decency and pride left in yourself. Just face it and admit this farce is causing hardship on all Maltese across the board !

Joe Scerri

Oct 15th 2011, 17:24

Route 31 is supposed to have a frequency of 10 mins. Why does one have to wait 30 minutes or more?

Also on three seperate occasions I pressed the stop button but the bus did not stop at the desired bus stop. The driver told me that he did not hear the bell. Well fix them then.

Charles Galea

Oct 15th 2011, 17:06

The problem with Arriva is only one .They changed the routes.They functioned well and they shouldn`t have changed them at all

silvio loporto

Oct 15th 2011, 16:37

I am mixed up.How is it that minister Gatt is giving your paper an interview on the public transport service,when only a few days ago he said he was surprised, that people are blaiming him on something that he has nothing to do with?

Godwin Vassallo

Oct 15th 2011, 16:35

Ghara ma jfettilekx tirrezenja ta. Ghax bis-sahha tieghek ma jkompliex jitlef voti l-PN

Maria Debono

Oct 15th 2011, 16:26

I hope we got the Lija/Balzan /Valletta Bus back. I also hope that the bus goes into Lija not near Lija cemetry

Joseph Calleja

Oct 15th 2011, 16:15

Looking forward to that interview. May I suggest that the interviewer ask the Minister first hand if he is ready to apologize publicly to the whole country for the mess he (Transport Malta and Arriva) have created. Because if he is not, nobody is going to listen to his lame excuses. Minister Austin Gatt might not be losing any sleep over the fiasco but he caused thousands of bus ridership to stay awake at night. We did not create such a fiasco, he (Transport Malta and Arriva) did. Minister Austin Gatt has a chance to come out clean and admit his failure. We know he will definitely fix the problem but so far he (Transport Malta and Arriva) have caused nothing but grief, and his arrogant attitude towards the whole thing does not help. It would make the interview interesting if Ms Garrett Abela was to be part of the interview without the vulgar language. Minister Austin Gatt please stop treating us like second class citizens. Do the right thing. Please tell us that you accept all responsibly and admit you made a boo boo so we can all get a good nights sleep.

FRANS H SAID

Oct 15th 2011, 16:06

Are the new routes a leg pul? They seem to be because in St paul's Bay (the area popularly known as Bugibba will still be without a direct service that in the past used to be provided by ex route 49.

DR EMMANUEL BEZZINA,MA,MAG.JUR.[EU Law],LL.D.,

Oct 15th 2011, 16:03

Minister Austin Gatt should not be condemned for politically immersing himself in his tasks and objectives with dedicated determination.However,the ARRIVA debacle demands crystal clear explainations as to why it went so wrong,who were the Maltese involved that in return for substantial remuneration [ which should be returned strictly wothout prejudice to further procedures ] ,betrayed with huge hardships the supreme interests of the commuters.

Further ARRIVA should be made to compensate my people for almost three months of a lousy service - to put it mildly, for endangering the lives and property by unbelievably some reckless and truly negligent driving by its crew of ``well trained`` drivers, for brining over very much second hand buses with many of them breaking down to the immense inconvenience of those caught in this state of the art service, for making use of bendy buses when they are not adequate and appropriate and extremely dangerous for one and all [ these road nuisances should be taken off the road immediately ],for outlining a new definition of what being `on time` signifies, and for the lengthy and upsetting routes in a small country as is ours.

The ARRIVA Directors should be stripped literally of all their dignity if they ever had any, be made available to the public to be given all details of the corruption and intrigue , to be then thrown out of our country as having taken the Maltese for a ``genuine``ride.

The Minister in the interests of the people should furnish us with a clear exposition of all these points among others.

J. Borg

Oct 15th 2011, 15:59

I think he will be having a sound sleep after this interview...because all the problems regarding the transport system will be solved come tomorrow evening.

Noel Mifsud

Oct 15th 2011, 15:49

Issa l zmien il buzulotti spiccaw, nispera li jghidilna x se tkun is scheduled tal kummiedja li jmissu jamel. Minn dakinhar j hawn ivvinta din ta 20 sena, sur Gatt ghatini break please, ghax hawn wisq cajt f dal egovt.

George Azzopardi

Oct 15th 2011, 15:48

Give Dr.Gonzi a break !! .. resign please!

George Azzopardi

Oct 15th 2011, 15:48

One thing for sure .. he will not do what he should have done ages ago .. resign!!!

Charles Micallef

Oct 15th 2011, 15:47

Will Sir Arrogance apologies and accept responsability for this mighty cock up?

Alexander Pace Gouder.

Oct 15th 2011, 15:45

@Lilly Vella - YES We have to wait until tomorrow to read what This Hard Headed Minister Has to say.- Go to rest and sleep well and wish you a nice dream like that he has changed his mind an d we will have a roofed theatre and a roofless Parlament ( matybe they will all have a nice shower)and also because I am more then sure that he has nothing due to say. - and by the way he said "I will not contest the next election to make way for new blood". Ha Ha Ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lynn Zahra

Oct 15th 2011, 15:15

I hope you've asked me if he actually understands the doctrine of Ministerial responsibility since he is always fobbing the blame of the Arriva debacle off onto civil servants.

lilly vella

Oct 15th 2011, 14:59

mhux se jirnexxieli norqod ,igri jasal ghada !