Malta Public Transport this evening announced several summer bus services, saying they had been discussedwith various stakeholders.
This morning, Times of Malta reported how the summer schedule had still not been introduced. (See http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140716/local/Buses-still-running-on-winter-schedule.527857 )
In a statement, Malta Public Transport said a number of bus services have been introduced to cater fordemand during the summer . These services include extensions to some of the current routes such as services to Għar Lapsi, shuttle servicesfor a number of localities, night services at the weekend and the deployment of additional ‘extra’ buses in a flexible and frequent way to meet increases in demands on various routes.
Some of the extensions to the bus services have already started operating, among them extensions to Routes 101 and 102 such that during these are now also serving Għajn Tuffieħa, Mġarr and Ġnejna. Route 109 has also been extended to Għar Lapsi.
Route X3 connecting the airport to Buġibba has been extended to cater for demand later at night, with a trip departing at 10.35pm.
A number of shuttle services have also been introduced, scheduled to leave in coordination with the arrival times of buses and offering extensions to the ‘regular’ bus services.
Among these shuttle services are Route 3A, which connects Kalkara Strand to Rinella and Smart City Centre with a service every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday and hourly on Sundays; Route 37A which connects hourly Ċirkewwa, Armier and Għadira Bay; and Route 71A which provides an hourly service from Żurrieq to Wied Iż-Żurrieq and Blue Grotto, Ħaġar Qim and Għar Lapsi.
As from Friday, Night Bus Services will be introduced. These will be providing bus services from St Julian's to various localities around Malta, and will be operating on Friday-to-Saturday nights and Saturday-to-Sunday nights, reflecting commuters’ demands. Night Buses are all denoted by the letter ‘N’ and the services introduced recently are as follows: N3 (Cottonera), N21(San Ġwann, Mosta, Naxxar, Għargħur), N31(Burmarrad, Naxxar Mosta), N32 (Msida, Birkirkara, Lija), N52 (Ħ’Attard, Rabat, Dingli), N61 (Msida, Blata l-Bajda, Hamrun, Birkirkara Żebbuġ, Siġġiewi), N62 (Marsa, Qormi, Siġġiewi, Żebbuġ), N71 (Safi, Kirkop, Żurrieq, Mqabba, Airport), N81 (Paola, Tarxien, Żejtun, Gudja), N82 (Paola, Tarxien, Zejtun Birżebbuġa).
Other night services such as Route N11 (Ċirkewwa to St Julians via Bugibba), Route N13 (Valletta to St Julian’s via Sliema) and Route N91 (St Julians to Marsaskala) operate all year round and will continue to operate as usual during the summer months.
Malta Public Transport said it will also be deploying a number of extra buses which throughout the day will cater for the fluctuations and spikes in commuter demand on various routes.
"Meanwhile, the remaining pending issues with the General Workers’ Union (GWU) still need to be resolved before the full summer schedules cannot come into force," it added.