Valletta businesses are “stretched beyond the limit” as the struggling new bus system brings fewer people into the city, leading to lower sales, a leading entrepreneur says.
The new transport system has not only been chaotic in the past days but the changes introduced by the new operators mean people do not have to visit Valletta as often as before to get to their end destination.
This, along with ongoing works and the ever-decreasing parking spaces, was leading customers to shy away from the capital and choosing other areas more accessible by car, the president of the Valletta Business Community Committee, Reginald Fava, said.
“It is worrying because we are very stretched and we’re stretching our pockets to keep our employees on board,” Mr Fava complained, adding staff members were arriving late because of the disruptions in the new system.
The new public transport system continued to struggle yesterday, with another 30 drivers not showing up for work after a reported 100 did not turn up on the first day of service.
Arriva, the new operator, tried to alleviate the situation by calling in drivers who were off and roping in British drivers who started work yesterday.
The General Workers’ Union hinted that many problems were “being caused by a lack of contact between Arriva and its workers, as happened (on Thursday)” and said workers, who were making “huge sacrifices”, should not be blamed.
Commenting on drivers who did not show up, Arriva director Piers Marlow said the company could only assume “that if people do not turn up for duty tomorrow (today) then they do not want to work with us but we do not want to be in any way unfair as the views of our people are very important to us”.
He said that if any drivers had any queries they should get in touch because there were a “number of channels and procedures in place through which employees can raise any questions, concerns or grievances with us directly”.
Asked what they thought was the reason behind the workers’ decision not to show up for work, Arriva did not reply.
In the meantime, the new system is still a far cry from the one the country was hoping for.
“Whoever designed the routes and the times does even not know what a bus looks like,” an Arriva driver said on condition of anonymity.
He said having bus drivers replacing each other on the same bus was not working and “the best system is to keep going straight and times will be met. They will not always be met perfectly, as we need more buffer time”.
“The driver who was meant to replace me did not turn up, so I did another four trips, when I should have been on my break, and I was still leaving people on the stages,” he said.
“If the people at the stages ganged up against me, they could have easily toppled my bus,” the driver said, estimating there were about 60 to 110 people on each stage.
Twanny Cassar, one of the drivers who had not turned up for work on Sunday, denied any claims of trying to sabotage the company. “I did not apply and spend weeks training and then simply not to turn up on the first day. I did not go to work because they did not stick to their promises,” Mr Cassar said, adding he had been contacted by the company to report for work today for a late shift, which, however, he could not make.
“A coach driver in Malta will get €220 a week and overtime for working after 5 p.m. and on Saturdays. Arriva expects long hours and service with a smile but it doesn’t translate this in the paycheque,” Mr Cassar said.
“I bet you that if the company starts offering higher wages, people will flock to work with it,” he said.
Glitches, as with previous days, kept appearing.
As happened on Thursday, another bus got stuck in Kirxa Hill in St Julians, going towards Balluta Bay, which is out of bounds for heavy vehicles.
Further south, Mqabba mayor Noel Galea said it was “unacceptable that people are left waiting for two hours until the first Arriva bus turns up to take them to their destination”, especially because passengers had no shelter.