Discriminatory bus fares are this government's mess - Muscat
Government purposely delaying response to Commission query, PL leader charges
The Government has taken a political decision to not answer a European Commission query about dual-rate public transport ticket prices in an attempt to disclaim responsibility, Labour leader Joseph Muscat has charged.
Describing the issue as a "hot potato", Dr Muscat said that he expected those responsible for introducing the system to sort it out.
"Just because those responsible are PN candidates or retiring ministers, it does not mean they can now wash their hands of this mess," he said, in a thinly-veiled reference to Transport Minister Austin Gatt and his right-hand man, PN candidate Manuel Delia.
Under local public transport regulations, Maltese citizens and residents pay less for bus tickets than tourists or foreigners without proof of Maltese residency. The system has caught the Commission's attention. It has given the government until the end of March to adequately defend the system.
Speaking before a large crowd in Zebbug during a special edition of One TV programme TX, Dr Muscat said he was "not surprised" by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi's assertion - made yesterday during a debate organised by The Times - that he would not resign as party leader if he suffered electoral defeat.
"It's symptomatic of a Prime Minister who's been clinging to power for over a year," he said. "I don't know why so many people were surprised. I expected that reply, without a shadow of a doubt".
He rubbished Dr Gonzi's claims that youth unemployment was not a pressing issue in Malta, saying 15 per cent of youths - 4,600 people - were out of work. In all, approximately 10 per cent of graduates did not work, he said.
Generating work for these youths would be a PL priority, he said, with the private sector fuelling the driving down of these figures.
Dr Muscat touched on the PL's energy plans, saying the party's proposals were "the most scrutinised and concrete proposals Malta's ever had" and telling his audience that the PL would also work towards a gas pipeline once EU funds were made available.
He rallied supporters by encouraging them to each "convince one person to vote for our movement" in the days to come, and made a special appeal to Gozitan youth.
"You may culturally be less inclined to speak your mind in public, but in the voting booth you will be alone. And if you too feel the need for a change in direction, then you have a group of strong PL candidates who can bring it about," he said.
That appeal was followed by a call for PL supporters to collect their voting documents and to vote early in the day come March 9.
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Joe Grech
Mar 1st, 01:45
Dr. Joseph Muscat please note:
There's another Discrimination created by the outgoing government - owners of a summer residence are being charged through the nose for Utilities as Enemalta considers there are 0 residents living in such residences.
The result is that such owners lose any rights they may have to more reasonable and just rates.
Do correct this situation if elected to government!
j brincat
Feb 28th, 13:51
AND this from those who have always boasted that they have EU affairs at heart.
Only when it suits them i.e. to cover up the mess left in the wake of Arriva.
Imagine the anger of the people had Arriva come up with new higher prices (still higher than the old bus system) after the shockwave the new service sent to the people from all walks of life!
jb
Abigail Azzopardi
Feb 28th, 10:04
excuse me .. are tourists complaining about our bus fares??? go to finland and see for yourself that with maltas week ticket you only get 2 days! for a days ticket here in malta you only get an hour there!!
steven micallef
Feb 28th, 11:25
mela ma tamiliex ma turisti int ?
M Grima
Feb 28th, 13:14
They complain went they get to know that it costs less for residents., especially those tourists who hail from the European Union. As to the bus fares, in Malta they are cheaper just because the wages and salaries are much lower than the majority of European countries.
j brincat
Feb 28th, 13:54
Please compare like with like to be credible?
Are the bus fares higher for tourists in Finland?
This is what you should be addressing - otherwise the USUAL deviating tactics!
jb
E. Azzopardi
Feb 28th, 09:47
Probably the only very good thing about ARRIVA is that we do not have all those smoke coming out of those wretched and dirty. buses and those rude and impolite drivers. Definitely the environment has benefitted in a great way. No doubt about that.
For the rest, still late on many occasions, bendy buses causing traffic jams in many streets and drivers are becoming less efficient as time goes by.
Fran Abela
Feb 28th, 09:36
Personally I think that Joseph Muscat is not a person who can stand pressure from any areas - it is obvious when questions are placed to him and he cannot tackle long questions or debates. Could be that he is still too young to be a prime minister with all the responsibilities attached to that position ?
S Portelli
Feb 28th, 09:09
Mr Perfrect. He would also make Louise Grech resign if electoral pormises are not achieved since he made him responsible. JM already has shown that he does not take any responsability on ice cubes, EU, Euro, Libya etc etc etc. These are strategic decisions which a leader cannot do mistakes on since they will either bankrupt the country or make us miss golden opportunities. Good luck Malta taghna
Eddy Privitera
Feb 28th, 09:29
S. Portelli: Were you ashamed of your GonziPN and so tried to deviate from the subject, namely, the mess made by Austin Gatt and his "merry men " at Transport Malta and his ministry, about the transport reform ?
Fran Abela
Feb 28th, 09:38
Eddie - do you use the public transport system at all ? Granted the public transport system is not 100% efficient but neither is it the disaster the PL is making it out to be. I suppose if and when the PL is in government the system will start working 100% ??
S Portelli
Feb 28th, 09:45
Eddie - No I am not ashamed because only those that do nothing do not do mistakes but at least not strategic mistakes like the MLP has done and that is why the MLP remained in opposition for 25 years. You cannot speak because you supported these MLP mistakes every single minute and your leader accepted that these were mistakes.
Joseph Grech
Feb 28th, 08:40
Now, this I agree with 100%. True, it is to make the service adequately cheap for the Maltese, but by distinguishing a price whether the customer is either Maltese or foreign is just dumb. I remember the government itself was against this somewhat 4 years ago? When the whole case of unpractical shop owners charged tourists a higher price than they would a Maltese citizen?
charles v schembri
Feb 28th, 07:58
In this monumental off the cuff speech Dr Muscat reaches his nadir. His cosmetically cured tactics are just to rubbish anything coming from others, including his own people.
Reason is simple; he is already feeling the heavy weight of possible governmental responsibility particularly when the pieces of the puzzle are mismatched and scatterred around in the room.
A repeat of the last labour gov.
David Triganza
Feb 28th, 06:43
We cannot understand why Dr Gonzi would not resign if he loses the election. That would be the appropriate thing to do in the interest of PN! Maybe he intended that declaration for the first few months and would later make way for some young charismatic new leader like Simon Busuttil. We all have noticed how good this relatively young MEP is.
Paul Giordimaina
Feb 28th, 07:48
David why your Joseph wants to create nonsense on anything why he does not concentrate on real issues.
Joseph Grech
Feb 28th, 08:40
David, when did Alfred Sant resign? Nuff said.
Fran Abela
Feb 28th, 09:34
As far as I know all party leaders resign after the elections - having won or not. Then the general council of the respective parties either re-elect their leader or elect a new one. So whats new please ?
M. Grech
Feb 28th, 06:36
This Arriva system from GonziPN was and still is one of the greatest failures in the last 5 years! I mean this is not rocket science, just planning a set of routes to serve such a small population. Gonzi's weakness is that he does not listen to what others have to say, too proud to do that. GonziPN boast with introducing consultation processes but when suggestions come in he simply doesn't listen.
Paul Giordimaina
Feb 28th, 07:50
Sur Grech trid toqod bdawk il buses li kelna jekk ma jogbukx taf xandek taghmel tirkibomx issa jekk Alla hares qatt jitla siehbek jamlilkom limousins.
Eddy Privitera
Feb 28th, 09:34
Paul Giormaina: Dawk il-buses almenu kienu jitilqu fil-hin. U jwassluk fil-hin. Kull ma ried isir li jinbidlu dawk il-busses. Ir-rotot ma kellhomx ghalfejn jintmissu, hlief li jizdiedu xi rotot fejn kien hemm bzonn. Mjnflok qalbu kollox ta' taht fuq bir-rizultat li ghamlu DIZASTRU FLOK RIFORMA !
Lawrence Fenech
Feb 28th, 04:28
Not only bus fares are discriminatory but the whole bus system and the burden of the maltese drivers on encountering the Arriva hippos during the day. "Warrabli ghax gej jien".
Fran Abela
Feb 28th, 09:39
The same can be said for local trucks, lorries, concrete mixers, etc. They still adopt the attitude of 'warrabli ghax gej jien'.
Mario Mizzi
Feb 27th, 23:58
The dual rates of the Public Transport service represent a form of positive discrimination - whereby one group is given advantages over another because of a reason. In this case the Maltese residents (not only Maltese people, but any resident of Malta) pay taxes in Malta and therefore benefit from a price reduction. Those who are not residents have to pay the full price. Museums in Spain - same.
C Sant
Feb 27th, 22:34
where dud he get the 10% figure, out of his hat? All indications show that actually almost all graduates are working or continuing there studies. Another blatant lie that nobody is questioning.
Though having 0% unemployment would be ideal, 15% youth unemployment pales near the 57% in Greece, 56% in Spain and the 24% in EU. Only Denmark, Netherlands, Austria and Germany have better figures.
Eddy Privitera
Feb 28th, 09:35
C Sant: Dr.MUscat got his figures from official statistics. Where did you get your information ???
Reuben D. Spiteri
Feb 27th, 22:20
An appeal to vote early... what did I miss a memo which says that votes before noon are worth some 100 points at the supermarket or something?
Also Mr Joseph Muscat, is this the kind of job you want us youths to settle in? Driving buses? So what are we studying in our choice of profession for?? Are you planning to cut expenditure on education (like in '96) since youths can go and drive buses?
Eddy Privitera
Feb 28th, 09:38
Reuben Spiteri: The cut in stipends was made by Lawrence Gonzi in 2005. Dr. Gonzi admitted this, saying that he was given the wrong advice !!!
Charles Grima
Feb 27th, 22:07
I voted PN last time round, and am one of those thinking of abstaining from a vote....this is one of the reasons... so discriminatory....
Shameful is the actual word.
Paul Giordimaina
Feb 28th, 07:55
Mr grima you will regret it.They are the same people that ruined Malta
H. Wait
Feb 28th, 08:05
By abstaining (or hiding away) you will not improve our country. I can understand that change is difficult but if I may remind you "It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change."
J Mifsud
Feb 28th, 08:38
Charles Grima...by abstaining a party still needs to be elected. Like many others, you can balance between what good has been done and what mistakes...I see more mistakes in the last years like Arriva, BWSC, environment, E500 for ministers, water and elec bills, arrogance....so many will look for change, new ideas and motivation-a new government till PN gets back on track like they did in EFA time
Andrew Vella
Feb 27th, 22:05
ARE MUSCAT AND THE PL NOW SIDING WITH THE EU AND AGAINST MALTA?
Eddy Privitera
Feb 28th, 09:43
Andrew Vella: If you followed the debate organised by The Times, you have heard Dr. Muscat answeriing yes to the question whether he would be ready to use the veto in the EU. This means that if Malta's vital interest is threatened by some EU decision, he would be ready to defend Malta !by using the veto !
Patricia Graham
Feb 27th, 22:03
As are the two tier tariffs for utilities Dr Muscat, but your party has also allowed this to go on for many years without stepping up to the plate. I am not a legal expert, but I do know that the Law the Class Action Against ARMS group is attempting to have nullified was not questioned in the 28 days way back when?.
Philip Micallef
Feb 27th, 21:39
Instead of picking on Malta why does the EU not see what Spain and France and other EU countries do with certain "monthly tickets" where only residents can avail themselves of such tickets? What about residents not paying to enter museums in Spain and non-residents having to pay? What about not being provided with a telecom service such as PayTV subscription in France if not a resident?
Ser Barristan Selmy
Feb 27th, 21:23
Dr Muscat, I didn't quite understand your quote directed at Gozitan youths - "You may culturally be less inclined to speak your mind in public". I agree that the word spreads like wildfire in Gozo - be it good or bad - but are you saying that as youths, we need to train our voices in public more? I think I can relate to that...
K.G. Vella
Feb 27th, 21:10
the dual rate system is discriminatory and it's removal would be very welcome. I would be chagrined if I were charged more for transport in another country simply because I am a visitor. I also can't stand the fact that some people have to give a proof of their residence so as not to be overcharged.
Maurice Agius
Feb 27th, 20:58
Dr J. Muscat, is really pathetic. Since when have the Gozitan youths are not able to speak out?
Some of them have shown that they are equal to the best minds in the world,in entrepreneurship, their professionalism and whatever other sphere of life you can think of. He will have the answer to his rhetoric very soon!!!
Reuben D. Spiteri
Feb 27th, 20:58
Really, I understand that the Arriva was a big mess, but to measure the government's overall performance upon one, single failed-but-working-on-it reform is stupid.
Anthony Psaila
Feb 27th, 20:54
I follow Dr Muscat with interest but now im getting slightly "irritated" at the lack of policy. This article proves my point - Arriva's organisational skills are a fiasco ....but we all know that the buses are much better than the old ones. Therefore its a matter of getting the house in order.
I would prefer if Dr Muscat starts speaking about policies which is what a politician should speak about.
Maurice Agius
Feb 27th, 20:51
Every country in the world has special concession to the locals over visitors,so why not Malta. Bus fares are still cheap for them compared to those in their countries. So let's not be hypocrites about this, do we earn the money most visitors get in their countries? I wonder why the PL has to sound so sanctimonious.
B Attard
Feb 28th, 09:02
Have you ever been abroad ? did any bus driver ask about your nationallity before paying the fare?
Neil Bugeja
Feb 27th, 20:39
Instead of saying that we charge foreigners more, can't we say there's a flat rate but Maltese residents have deduced rates? I mean...glass half full, half empty
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