Prior to the introduction of the new bus service, Cospicua used to be served by four routes – numbers 1 and 6 between Valletta and the old Vittoriosa bus terminus (actually in Cospicua), passing along the upper and lower parts of the city respectively, No. 2 between Valletta and Vittoriosa, and No. 4 between Valletta and Kalkara. Route No. 3 (Valletta to Senglea) included two stops in Triq l-Immakulata, Cospicua.
Under the new system, the new route No. 1 (Valletta-Senglea) has retained the same two stops. However, (old) routes 1 and 6 have been discontinued, and the previous Valletta-Kalkara route has been replaced by the new route No. 3, which comes all the way from Xgħajra, and is practically full by the time it reaches the first Cospicua stop.
This has left residents in the Tal-Ħawli and Verdala areas without a Valletta-bound bus stop and resulted in an accumulation of commuters on the main stops, most of which either have to stand all the way or are left stranded for lack of space. It has been repeated ad nauseam that the only solution would have to be the reintroduction of the old route No. 1 (with a new number, of course).
Instead of this, the next route revision (scheduled for tomorrow) simply limits the changes to a rerouting of the No. 2 bus from Vittoriosa through Triq il-Ġublew tal-Fidda and Verdala. This apparently only holds good for the Vittoriosa-Valletta leg (not the reverse).
This will mean that residents in the Tal-Ħawli area will still be without a direct bus service to Valletta, and will have to walk all the way to the Riche stop; the considerable number of people (from both Cospicua and Vittoriosa) waiting at the Riche stop will have to choose beforehand whether to wait for the No. 2 on one side of a six-lane road, or for the No. 3 on the other.
They could, of course, wait on the centre strip, and then cross accordingly, depending on which bus is seen first.
Commuters boarding along the waterfront will only be served by route No.3, which will be practically full by the time it reaches them. In addition, the scheduled timetables are not being adhered to, resulting in even greater chaos.
While the rerouting will provide the residents of the upper part of Cospicua with the same service they had before (not quite, as on the home-bound trip they will have to go all the way to Vittoriosa, remain on the bus, and then disembark on the way back to Valletta), this will only be at the expense of a reduction in service to the other parts of Cospicua, if anything, making the situation worse than it is at present.
May I therefore once again insist that a new route, equivalent to the old No. 1, be introduced at the earliest possible? In the meantime, the No. 2 bus should stop at both Riche stops (i.e. on the Vittoriosa and Cospicua sides) before going along Triq il-Ġublew tal-Fidda.
It would ease the situation in this particular spot and only involves a turn through the roundabout which is conveniently situated between the two stops.