Over 62,000 cards bus cards have been topped up successfully and 40,000 have already been used at least once on the buses, Malta Public Transport said today.

The bus card was introduced on July 1, with teething problems particularly on the first day.

But MPT said today the usage was encouraging and numbers were continuing to grow every day.

"At the same time, we have continued to experience an increase in registrations for the tallinja card with almost 160,000 registrations so far. We have delivered all cards that were registered until the 30th June and we are committed to deliver the remaining cards as soon as possible”, Daniel Grech, commercial director, said.

A dedicated telephone line (22014824) and email (mycard@tallinja.com) have been set up to make it easier for those who have not received their card to contact the company.  

Mr Grech said some people may have experienced problems with their tallinja cards, either when topping up or when using them on the buses, and the company wanted to apologise for this inconvenience.

"We note that these are isolated cases and our technical people are working continuously to resolve these cases as they are reported, and where necessary a replacement card is being issued.”

A team of people is still based at the Valletta terminus to assist with any enquiries, although MT said the number of such enquiries has decreased. 

The current 30c two hour ticket for Kartanzjan/Maltese 60+ ID Holders, KNPD Special ID Holders, and Children under 10 has fallen significantly over the last few days, but MPT said the ticket will remain available on the buses for the time being to allow sufficient time for people to get used to the new system.

Bus cards can be topped up on www.tallinja.com, at any post office, or using top-up vouchers available from over 300 outlets around Malta and Gozo. However top-ups may take up to 24 hours to get registered on cards.

The company said all 40 newly imported buses have been put into service, paving the way for the summer timetable  that will start on Sunday July 12. The next batch of buses will arrive from Turkey in the comings weeks and will be put into service right away.

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