The Tallinja electronic bus card system and the new fare structure will come into force on July 1, Malta Public Transport Services Ltd announced yesterday.
From that date, the price of a paper ticket is set to increase significantly in a bid to encourage passengers to make use of the electronic card, which is deemed crucial for the success of the public transport reform.
This will mean that a two-hour ticket will increase in price to €2, when at present a day ticket costs just €1.50.
MPTS commercial director Daniel Grech yesterday welcomed the take-up of the new card, saying that more than 100,000 people had registered for it since its launch last month.
Due to the overwhelming response and to speed up the process, these cards will be mailed directly to users rather than the original plan of delivering them to local councils, he said.
New products set tobe launched next month will allow tourists to buy prepaid tickets
Customers may start topping up their cards immediately by logging on to talllinja.com, by using vouchers that will soon be available in more than 1,000 outlets, by calling at MaltaPost offices or by visiting any MPTS ticket booth.
Though Autobuses de Leon (Alesa) took over MPTS last January, no major changes have been introduced yet, to avoid a repeat of what happened in July 2011 when the big-bang approach adopted by Arriva failed spectacularly.
Apart from the card and the fare structure, a host of new routes are set to be introduced gradually by the end of the year.
This process will be accompanied by an increase in the number of buses to 360 from the existing 280.
Alesa director for transport Julio Tironi said the first changes will take place on June 21 in Gozo, whereas in Malta new routes will be introduced next month.
Asked about arrangements for tourists, to whom the bus card may not be available as they have no Maltese address, he said new products set to be launched next month would allow them to buy prepaid tickets.
Reacting to complaints made by the Valletta local council regarding changes to route 133, which is a circular service going through the capital, Mr Tironi said these changes were temporary.
He said the only two buses in the fleet that could negotiate the city’s tight spaces had broken down and the company was still waiting for the new vehicles to be delivered from abroad. As a result, it was having to make use of larger buses and part of the route had to be sacrificed.
Asked whether they could hire minivans until the situation was remedied, he noted that the ones available were not suitable, as they were not low-floor vehicles.
Further information on the new fares and bus card may be obtained over the phone on 2122 2000.