He claims to be concerned when criticism stops but Transport Minister Joe Mizzi tells Kurt Sansone he has not yet published the public transport contract, fearing the Opposition’s obstructionism.

Motorists fumed, missed their appointments and lost time idling away in hot temperatures when the Coast Road was closed for four days last month.

The planned closure to resurface a large stretch of the road that is being rebuilt caused mayhem on its first day.

It was made worse when Labour MP Luciano Busuttil posted on his Facebook wall that people should stop complaining.

When I ask Transport Minister Joe Mizzi whether he will also tell people not to complain, he moves back in his seat and expresses sympathy with motorists for the frustrating experience.

“I will never tell people not to complain because their criticism will help us make things better,” he says.

But Mr Mizzi goes on to explain that the total road closure for four days was “the least problematic solution” to ensure works are not stalled.

No other country in the world has almost half the population with a bus card

The Coast Road project has to be ready in November as government risks losing EU funds if it is not completed by year’s end.

Mr Mizzi says Transport Malta had communicated news of the closure and the alternative routes motorists could use.

“As is always the case with road works not everybody would have got the message and on the first day we had a massive congestion.”

He says the improvements on the second day were not the result of any miracle, with reference to a report on the Times of Malta that carried photos from the second day taken by a drone showing little traffic.

On the second day people followed the instructions and chose alternative routes or avoided the area, he says.

But the confusion caused on the first day raised concerns over what would happen when works start on the Kappara junction, a main traffic node in the northern harbour area.

Mr Mizzi says the works will only start after the Coast Road is completed and preparatory work is already under way to identify alternative routes, including resurfacing works in some secondary roads.

“We want to create the least inconvenience for motorists but we have to realise that these projects have to be done to iron out bottlenecks on the road network,” he says.

One such bottleneck is the Manoel Island junction in Gżira where a newly introduced bus lane along the promenade caused furore some months ago.

“The bus lane has worked but the problem is where the road gets narrower near Manoel Island bridge and Transport Malta is redesigning the junction to help traffic flow better,” he says, without elaborating.

I interview Mr Mizzi at the ministry in Floriana, almost a month after the electronic bus card system was introduced by the Spanish operator.

Complaints flooded in on day one as the operator was caught unprepared for the significant response for the cards. But the system also had its teething problems that irked passengers.

Mr Mizzi says changing a culture of buying tickets on board the bus is difficult and although he acknowledges the system is not perfect he says it’s quite a feat to have almost half the population own a bus card.

“We now have 185,000 cards out there. No other country in the world has almost half the population with a bus card. Of these 100,000 cards have been used already,” he says, adding the initial technical hitches have dropped drastically.

The use of the bus card is crucial for improved efficiency and a quick turnover of passengers at bus stops but a widespread complaint is that people are paying more to travel than they used to before.

Mr Mizzi disagrees with this assessment. Regular use of the card will ensure savings, he insists.

Producing statistics he says that some 70,000 card users had used up the monthly capping of €26 and were travelling for free for the rest of that month. He says the elderly, students and the disabled are also paying cheaper rates.

“One aspect that is rarely mentioned is the fact that travellers can go to Gozo without having to pay again as it used to be before,” Mr Mizzi says.

But travellers have been deceived by the publicity that a two-hour trip would cost 75c irrespective of which routes and how many buses were used within that time window. In reality, a commuter who returns back on the same bus within the two-hour timeframe will have to pay 75c again.

Mr Mizzi does not say whether the operator is right in charging double for a return trip within two hours but insists he is waiting for explanations and statistics from the operator.

“We will discuss the matter with the operator but we have to have the information at hand first,” he says.

Comparing this charge with the company’s contractual obligations is impossible since Mr Mizzi has so far refused to publish the contract despite repeated promises to do so.

“At the appropriate time,” he says, in what has become a standard reply every time he is asked when the contract with Autobuses de Leon will be published. The ‘appropriate time’ has dragged on for months in what has become a frustrating joke.

But Mr Mizzi defends his decision by blaming the Opposition’s “obstructionism”.

“I want all the planned changes to come into force and give people time to experience them before tabling the contract in Parliament. I cannot have the Opposition undermine trust in the service because of contractual misinterpretations.”

I cannot have the Opposition undermine trust in the service because of contractual misinterpretations

He says the full revamped route network Malta Public Transport is obliged to run will start being rolled out gradually in September. This also includes more frequencies.

When asked why the new routes had not been introduced when the operator took over earlier this year, Mr Mizzi says more buses had to be brought in. The operator is obliged to increase the bus fleet by 140 new buses.

Buses do not just appear out of nowhere, he argues, adding the operator had already brought over 80 new buses. The last batch of 60 buses is expected next month.

“To be able to run the routes we had agreed with the local councils, new buses had to be added to the fleet,” he says, acknowledging that passenger queues on certain popular summer routes were the result of lack of buses.

He says the idea had always been to have a gradual roll-out of services to avoid the mistakes of the past when a big-bang approach was partially blamed for the chaos created.

Returning back to the contract, Mr Mizzi says he cannot trust the Opposition to be truthful about what the contract stipulates.

“They will use unjust criticism to undermine trust in the service by picking on things that would be introduced at a later stage.”

But the public had a right to know how €29 million in subsidies were being spent, I insist.

“I will publish the contract at the appropriate time,” he reiterates.

He digresses for a moment and points out that the subsidy has to be viewed in context. Although it is higher than the €10 million given to the former operator Arriva, he insists it is much less than the subsidy the losing Maltese bidders had asked for – €40 million.

“Let us not forget also that Arriva had asked us for a subsidy of €45 million when we presented them with the new route network and frequencies,” he says, insisting that a socially just transport system had to cost more than €10 million.

Asked whether he is satisfied with the service being offered, Mr Mizzi says the system is not perfect and there are still problems that have to be solved.

“The advantage is that we have an operator that is responsive and willing to make necessary changes to improve the service. But things do not just happen because of miracles. We also increased the inspections on drivers, vehicles and passengers.”

The success of public transport depends on people making the switch from their cars to buses, which will in turn alleviate road congestion.

Mr Mizzi is buoyed by statistics that show how bus patronage increased last year and believes the shift is happening.

He says Transport Malta will roll out a scheme in September to provide a fiscal incentive for commuters to leave their car at home and use the bus.

The scheme will last from mid-September to October and is intended to coincide with the opening of schools after the summer when traffic congestion traditionally gets worse.

“We will give commuters a free top-up on their bus cards to encourage them to use public transport and in this way we hope to relieve the congestion that occurs when schools re-open,” Mr Mizzi says.

But as he anticipates a fresh bout of criticism, Mr Mizzi insists it does not bother him. “I worry when there is no criticism because through it we learn and can improve things.”

However, he cannot resist taking a political dig at the Opposition, insisting it is their unjust and destructive criticism that bothers him.

Speaking about his trip to Spain during the bidding process last year to assess the Spanish operator’s operations, he insists there was nothing unethical about the visit.

“There was no conflict because the request for proposals had said such visits were possible. I wanted to verify for myself that what they were proposing actually worked.”