Sliema’s upgraded Bisazza Street, whose new pedestrianised status has drawn protests from the business community, looks like it will be open to some traffic after all, starting next month.
After controversy over the decision to keep it closed to public transport buses, and not just cars, the transport operator is insisting its vehicles will start plying this street from July 3. Buses on eight different routes will pass through.
But the Rural Affairs Ministry, which was responsible for the street’s paving and embellishment, is adamant that it must stay the way it has been since Tuesday – “fully pedestrianised”.
A ministry spokesman told The Times that, as publicly stated, there was no access to vehicles down Bisazza Street.
It may only be opened temporarily to traffic if the need arose, such as in the case of an accident, he said. “At the design stage, the street was planned in such a way that allows the temporary reopening to traffic flows.”
Asked what alternative the route buses had, the spokesman said they had to drive through the new Midi tunnel at Tigné and proceed to The Ferries.
However, Arriva Malta’s managing director Keith Bastow insisted yesterday that the use of Bisazza Street was in the contract Arriva signed with Transport Malta and that routes in Sliema had been planned on the basis of this information.
“I can confirm that the following routes will go down Bisazza Street: 11, 12, 13, 21, 23, 32, 202 and X2. There is also another route close by, the 116, which will go through the underpass beneath The Point at Tigné,” Mr Bastow said when contacted.
“Transport Malta designed the new network and has put a lot of thought into the new routes and timetables involved in the contract. Arriva will be running services under contract to Transport Malta and is responsible for the service delivery, which we look forward to starting on July 3.
“After six months (from starting of operations in Malta) Transport Malta is planning to review the route network. At this point, we will work with them to see what requests have been made and what changes are possible for the future. In the meantime, we will be logging all comments and suggestions and will feed them in to the review.”
Before the decision to close off the street to traffic had been taken, many members of the Sliema business community, worried about being cut off from a main artery, had signed a petition calling on the authorities to allow access to public transport.
The ministry, however, chose to close the street off to all traffic.
Even The Point, the Tigné shopping mall, is against the street’s full pedestrianisation, fearing congestion in the tunnel and the area around the mall.