The Sunday Times of Malta (‘Fury at axeing of Magħtab bus route’, December 20, 2015) reported about Magħtab’s residents’ fury at Malta Public Transport for eliminating bus route 205, which served quite a few villages including Magħtab.

The same can be said about the Santa Margerita residents in Mosta after the elimination of bus routes 37 and 38, which left about 600 families with no direct link to Mater Dei Hospital and the University. With the newly introduced bus 47 (which does not go through Msida but Ħamrun), residents have to endure a 25-minute walk to the nearest bus stop at Rotunda Square, come rain or shine, to catch the relevant bus to take them to Mater Dei or the University.

This is very inconvenient, especially for elderly people who cannot drive or do not own a car. When they finally reach the Rotunda Square bus stop, they have to queue up behind dozens of people to catch a bus, which most of the time is already full of commuters coming from the north, leaving people stranded and angry. Does Malta Transport realise that this is most unfair?

I would also like to point out that bus 45 which used to pass through 21st September Avenue, Naxxar every 20 minutes now passes through every 30 minutes, leading to long queues and making it nearly impossible to board a bus. These people are also suffering from the elimination of bus 37.

Nobody is really interested in how many kilometres the newly modified system is going to cover. Commuters want to have the efficient public transport service that was promised before the 2013 election. This situation is also encouraging people to go back to their private cars.