I have just been reading MP Robert Arrigo’s correspondence regarding the Sliema circular bus and I would like to thank him and our local council for their continued support to have this route returned to us elderly Sliema citizens.

I have been writing to this newspaper, to the Prime Minister, to Transport Malta and to Arriva ever since the latter regaled us with the suspension of the circular bus service in July of last year, saying that it is illegal to organise scheduled transport.

The facts are that the council bus was not a scheduled service against payment but more of a community service especially for those who otherwise would have found it very hard or impossible to go from inner/upper Sliema to Sliema Ferries and socialise over a coffee with some of their elderly friends. Some even have foreign helpers to assist them but now these elderly are unable to leave their home.

Earlier this month we had a meeting with Transport Malta officials regarding the route 110, which they are contending is a replacement for the council bus.

This is completely false, as route bus 110 travels around a quarter of Malta departing from Marsa and passing through Sta Venera, Ta’ Paris, Swatar, Msida, San Ġwann, Ta’ Giorni, Gżira and, finally, Sliema. I am definitely not saying that other people on this route do not need this bus service but we at Sliema definitely do not need it and more so from 6 a.m. till late at night.

The local council bus had a specific timetable for winter and another for summer, which, if I am not mistaken, was more than five or six trips daily during the summer. Who, may I ask, is going to go out at 2 p.m. in this summer heat?

These are unwanted and uncalled for times for Sliema senior citizens.

I again ask our local council to take legal advice regarding the contention of Transport Malta on the scheduled bus service. I also ask Minister Austin Gatt to look into the matter. After all, we are not asking for anything out of this world but only for the return of what we had before Arriva arrived to destroy our convenient circular bus service.

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