Where have all the buses gone? (2)
• Having just returned from a three-week trip to the islands, I felt I needed to express my opinions and views.
I have travelled to Malta now for the past three years and was very disappointed with my recent visit due to the changes in the bus network which is currently run by Arriva. Being a disabled traveller, I found that trying to travel anywhere within Malta was a massive task to say the least, as the reliability of the new buses was far from satisfactory.
Whilst I appreciate that there are major road works in the north of the island, I would have thought that extra buses (41) could have been laid on not only for the locals but also the holiday makers concerned.
When the locals are moaning then there has to be a problem. I stood on a bus for almost one hour because of the lack of seats available and this was my third attempt to get on a bus that was not full.
I fear that if the system is not looked at urgently then Maltese tourism is going to suffer as nearly all fellow holiday makers had the same opinion: that the bus service had gone into decline.
Forgive me if I sound rather old fashioned, but please bring back more of the old buses or at least increase reliability of the current service or tourism will take a nose dive. The punters, Brits and Maltese, are far from happy.
Popular Stories
In Discussion
8 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
Adrian Pavia
Apr 21st 2012, 07:56
A big no for bringing the old junk. If you one of those stupid old buses buy one. Thank god we got rid of them! Having said that arriva has still to improve reliability and service quality
C Cassar
Apr 20th 2012, 20:39
As a disabled person, how could you want the old buses back? They had absolutely NO facilities for the disabled and more often than not had stairs to climb up, impossible to accomodate a wheel chair etc. At least the new biuses have a very low entry floor, space for wheel chairs and dedicated seats for the disabled.
Therefore you are very wrong, so please stop moaning about the best thing that's happened in Malta's transport infrastructure for at least 50 years.
David Willow
Apr 20th 2012, 12:35
a big NO from me to bringing back the old smelly decrepit noisy dirty old buses and the equivalent old school drivers.....we had them - good riddance to them.....Arriva even with their faults are much better by a long way. as other have said two to three weeks use of old buses on holiday is one thing but daily use NO NO NEVER.
ANTHONY PAVIA
Apr 20th 2012, 15:00
David, do not mistake hardware (buses) for software (routes). The hardware definitely needed an upgrade and the technicians needed retaining but the software was good. Now we have hardware that is oversized for our needs, technicians have revered back to form and software that does not deliver!
Peter Murray
Apr 20th 2012, 10:28
Extremely sorry to hear of your dreadful and totally unacceptable plight but the answer most assuredly is not to bring back the old buses but to bring in a more responsible and caring attitude towards customers ,not to double charge our lifeblood(tourists) and a much more accountable and stringently monitored and enforced timetable.
Fran Abela
Apr 20th 2012, 13:19
I agree with you Mr. Murray that a more responsible and caring attitude towards customers, etc. etc. should be the norm with the new bus operator. As to double charging the tourists - well, you seem to forget how many tourists used to continuously complain of being overcharged, short-changed etc. I still think that the fares are not that expensive if one knows how to take advantage of a 7-day tickets - I take it that most tourists have a holiday of at least 7-days,
Fran Abela
Apr 20th 2012, 10:22
'Being a disabled passenger' - As far as I know there are four seats allocated to elderly and disabled, and unless these were already occupied, someone should have had the decency to offer his/her seat to this gentleman. As to locals moaning Mr. Clark this is the Maltese favourite pastime ! I admit there is more to be done to offer a proper service, however, having used the previous bus service for 40 years and having had one or two very bad experiences with the bus drivers and their ramshackle buses, I can in all honesty say that I prefer the present bus operator to the previous bus 'service'. People who are here on holiday may have enjoyed riding on the old buses but it is a different thing having to use the old service all the year round.
ANTHONY PAVIA
Apr 20th 2012, 09:42
Dear Ian, you are being realistic. It is the authorities that have their heads in the sand. Now, when they will find the time (in between one networking trip and an EU overseas conference session) to notice that tourists numbers are falling, then they might act. Task force or non task force, the service is still greatly wanting.
Please choose the reason of your report below: