Buses are not immune to the traffic chaos as punctuality and reliability levels dropped by 30 per cent in October, according to a top company official.

Julio Tironi, group transport division director at Autobuses de León, the company running the bus service, said increased traffic congestion is leading to delays during the morning rush hour.

Interviewed by this newspaper, (See the full text at http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20161017/local/traffic-and-unpopular-choices-bus-chief-interviewed.628231 )Mr Tironi says the bus service was “doing very well” until September despite a significant increase in passengers over the summer months.

“By the end of September, we had reached a very high level of service reliability, over 99 per cent… At the same time, over 95 per cent of the service was departing on time,” he said.

But then came October and punctuality and reliability levels took a 30 per cent hit as traffic congestion worsened as a result of schools reopening after the holidays.

All those cars simply don’t fit on the streets we have; it is a matter of space

All the bus network is directly or indirectly impacted by traffic, Mr Tironi said, since almost all routes pass through the most congested areas.

However, he added the bus service witnessed a record number of trips done by bus card holders in October, describing this a national phenomenon.

Mr Tironi also put his finger on the main problem: there are too many cars in circulation. He argued the traffic blame-game every October is an exercise in futility unless this issue is tackled head on.

“All those cars simply don’t fit on the streets we have; it is a matter of space. Are we prepared to limit the use of the cars in Malta? Any other discussion we have will only delay finding the proper solution.”

According to the National Office of Statistics, licensed motor vehicles between July and September increased at an average rate of 38 per day.

He took a dig at what he described as “pharaonic solutions” proposed every October such as an underground service or trams and insisted discouraging car use had to be the first priority.

He said that public transport has improved despite some people not wanting to acknowledge this. But to continue improving, he added, a national decision to limit the use of cars is necessary.

He suggested more bus lanes, urban tolls and higher car taxes as well as shifting certain road-side services to the night.

“Now we [the bus company] are a part of the solution and not part of the problem like before,” he said.

Mr Tironi said the company has invested in 33 new buses that are over and above the contractual agreement and insists it would be ready to invest in more if needed.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.