Malta Public Transport is seeking the backing of trade unions for proposals which will make its workforce more flexible, in a bid to improve the service.
Despite expanding its fleet of buses MPT is still having problems servicing certain routes. Boarding a bus to Valletta from Malta’s most popular beach at Għadira Bay in the afternoon, for example, is still an ordeal.
At times commuters even take a bus to Ċirkewwa in order to ensure they can board a bus home.
MPT CEO Julio Tironi while acknowledging that the service at times leaves much to be desired, said that certain mitigating measures require the backing of the drivers’ unions.
Declining to go into detail, he said the company had made proposals in this sense with the aim of signing a new collective agreement. This, he said, would give it more flexibility to respond to certain situations and beef up the service in case of an emergency.
ROUTE EXPANSION
Following the introduction of the bus card in July, he said emphasis was now on the route network expansion, which would happen in four phases by the end of the year.
The first changes will come on September 13 and affect 11 routes. Works on the extension of the Valletta terminus are scheduled to be completed by end-September. “This will make it possible to launch the second phase in October, which will involve major changes,” Mr Tironi said.
Commenting on his experience so far, Mr Tironi said the biggest challenge was undoubtedly the introduction of the Tallinja card.
Though Mr Tironi acknowledged that the company had been overwhelmed, he accepted that this was to be expected as the fares for non-card holders were intentionally raised. “Our best-case scenario was to receive about 100,000 applications and not double this amount which, is roughly half the entire population.
“This rate is probably a first in Europe,” he said.
Of the 200,000 cards issued, about 120,000 were already being used on a regular basis, he added.
“From a technical aspect, the situation has improved drastically as we are now getting about 50 errors a day, which is negligible when compared to the number of card users,” Mr Tironi remarked.
As for the time taken for the credit to become active, the operator is pledging this will not take more than 24 hours.
The operator defended the new structure, saying it was tailor-made to reward frequent users.
“Previously, the maximum monthly expense for users purchasing day tickets was €45 but under the new structure there is an automatic monthly capping of €26 for adults and €21 for students. So heavy users will save money, after all,” Mr Tironi said.
For the long term, the company plans to widen the use of cards for other means of transport, which would include the ferry service to Gozo and Grand Harbour.