Just three days after filing a judicial protest objecting to “unreasonable” bus routes, lawyer Joe Brincat has received more than 60 e-mails from disgruntled commuters complaining about unnecessarily lengthy journeys.
He is collecting their complaints to use them as evidence in court if he gets to the point where the situation is not resolved and he opens a civil case.
“That way my case will be on an informed basis as opposed to simple conjecture,” the former Labour Justice Minister said.
Dr Brincat, an environmentalist who regularly makes use of buses, filed the judicial protest against Transport Malta on Friday. He objected to the new routes saying they had increased travelling times by up to three times.
He asked the transport watchdog to declare the system it devised null because it was clear it had designed the routes without making the correct considerations. He called on disgruntled commuters to contact him on brincat.routes@gmail.com and share their experience.
When contacted yesterday he said he had received many complaints about routes leading to Mater Dei Hospital and by people whose commute had lengthened considerably after Arriva took over the public transport service at the beginning of the month.
A no-show by 180 drivers, combined with a number of buses breaking down and problems with the computer system, led to a chaotic launch of the new service.
The no-show happened the day after drivers held a protest because they did not want to work split shifts. They claimed this was not in their agreement with the company.
Last week the General Workers’ Union met Arriva members to discuss the new shifts that are due to come into force on August 1. Through the new shift system, a third of drivers will stop working at 4 p.m. with the others starting at 1 p.m. Arriva is expected to fire the majority of those who did not turn up as this was being seen as a breach of contract, a spokesman said.
However, the human resources’ department was listening to arguments of those who claimed to have valid reasons for not turning up.
A spokesman explained that Arriva currently had about 500 drivers but was working towards a full complement of 700 to be completely covered. When the 180 drivers did not turn up, the company brought over 90 drivers temporarily from the UK.
“We are also making good progress by recruiting more Maltese drivers. We currently have 50 drivers recruited and in training, we interviewed a further 100 this week, and have another 100 interviews scheduled,” the spokesman said.
Speaking to The Times on condition of anonymity, an Arriva driver said many of his colleagues felt disappointed as there was a wide gap between what Arriva promised and what it was offering. He said several people joined the company because of the working hours but were now asked to work long shifts.
However, he remained hopeful the situation would change when the new shifts came in adding that, through his experience, the management was willing to compromise.
Meanwhile, stories about Arriva-bus mishaps have been coming in. Witnesses reported seeing a bendy bus block Tower Road in Sliema last weekend.
The driver, who was heading towards Sliema, apparently forgot he had to turn left to Qui-Si-Sana to pass through the Midi tunnels and, instead, headed towards the pedestrianised Bisazza Street.
After failing to manoeuvre the long vehicle to reverse out of the road, passers-by intervened by stopping traffic driving up Tower Road, a one-way street, so that the bus could drive down the street. Once it reached the bottom of the road there was more drama as the driver struggled to make the 90-degree turn into the main road.