Daniel Grech, commercial director at Malta Public Transport, tells Kristina Chetcuti what went wrong on the day of the Tallinja card launch and how things have now improved.

Tallinja card was launched on Wednesday but until yesterday many people who had registered for it still had not received the card. What was the reason for this?

There are still a few hundred of those who applied for the card before June 19 who are receiving them as we speak. Those who applied after June 19 will receive it in the coming days. However, those who applied in June and still have not received their card will be refunded in the form of credit once they get their card. Also, until July 7, children, senior citizens and people with disabilities will still pay 30 cents for their trip.

Why is it that those who applied in the given time frame still did not receive it on time?

The reason was that we were processing these cards. For example, we had a number of cards in which the photo uploaded online was not good or had nothing to do with their portrait. We took the decision that we would still send them the card without a photo and without a name. This added to our load. However, cards reached people in the most efficient way possible – at home in their post.

Do people have to register again if they received a nameless card?

They can immediately top up and start using this card so as to avail themselves of the reduced fares. However, in the coming days, we will be contacting people who submitted a wrong photo in order to send us in a new one and we will issue a new card. The topped-up money will be transferred to the new card.

On Wednesday there was there was an unmanageable chaotic situation at the Valletta terminus. Did the MPT not foresee this problem? Could you not have organised more registration and top-up points to avoid it?

The number of points was increased from four to seven over these two months. What happened on Wednesday was that people realised that it was July 1 and that without the card they would have to pay more. What’s important is that we took stock and immediately organised ourselves so customers were better served.

But on Wednesday people were here since 6am. Were you not monitoring the situation? Why is it that till noon there was still chaos?

Yes, we were constantly monitoring. If you have a queue that started at 6am, it will take more time to clear. But we were sending people to help out all the time.

The machines on the bus were not always working and people could not top up cards from Maltapost branches. What happened?

As with every other huge and technical launch there’s bound to be some small issues despite all the testing.

Drivers said that having to explain to commuters how to use the card readers was time consuming and they were arriving late at their destination. Was the problem solved?

We had adverts on television and social media showing people how to use the card reader, however, no matter how many adverts you place, it ultimately boils down to when the commuter gets on the bus and scans the card. The drivers on Wednesday were a very important element in the roll-out of the new service and I would like to thank them for the great job they did. Also, over these two days we have been working hard to make the card reading system faster as our aim is to speed up the process for commuters.

Judging by the feedback we got, it is very difficult to get through the Tallinja card Call centre.

We recruited more people to answer our helpline in an adequate time so we can be more efficient. We apologise if some people were kept waiting.

People are complaining that buses still operate without air conditioning, that they run late, that they are crowded and that in general the bus service has not improved. Is anything being done to improve this?

The Tallinja card is part of a vast reform taking place in the public transport service. As we speak, 40 new buses have been dispatched from Turkey which will start being used immediately. On June 21, we added new routes in Gozo. On July 12 we will increase the routes in Malta and later on this year we will add new routes after consultations with the public.