The public transport service is harming the tourism industry and businesses, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association charged yesterday, requesting an urgent meeting with the transport authority over the matter.
The MHRA said it wanted to “seek solutions and assurances of immediate improvements”.
Tourists were returning home with very bad experiences, it said, insisting the service was disrupting business during the peak season, leading to losses and additional costs.
The association is calling on Transport Minister Austin Gatt, who “ultimately has to assume the responsibility for this”, to urgently address the deficiencies and inconveniences, and to see that changes to the routes take place immediately.
“We cannot afford to wait until October for changes to be made,” the MHRA insisted.
The association has been closely monitoring the new transport system since its launch to determine how it would affect tourists. Even though the Transport Ministry raised expectations, the association did not expect the service to be without initial hiccups, which is why it had, so far, refrained from making public statements.
However, now in its third week of service, what was being experienced went “beyond teething problems”, it said.
The fact that the changeover took place in the peak period did not help, but once the decision was taken, the MHRA expected contingency plans to be in place to address any issues and, at least, guarantee a service that was not inferior to the previous one.
Some of the inconvenience that commuters, including tourists, have suffered could have been avoided if information was communicated more efficiently and if shelters had been provided, it said.
In the case of Buġibba, for example, existing shades were removed and, to date, had not yet been replaced.
The MHRA was also faced with the problems of staff arriving late for work and finding it was taking them much longer to return home.
The main problem, however, was the “enormous” length of time to get from point A to B, the MHRA maintained, saying it had witnessed “furious” repeat customers, who are used to the old system, claiming they would not return to Malta. Others were destined to go back “very disappointed” with their experience, which did not augur well in terms of Malta’s image.
The bus service was “hugely important” for visiting tourists, especially in Malta, where alternative means of public transport was limited. It was estimated that almost 90 per cent of tourists in Malta used buses at least once during their stay, the MHRA said.