Transport Malta in a round-up of the week said today that the bus service has improved but there is still 'much room for improvement." TM did not refer to Thursday evening's strike in its statement.

The Authority said the addition of a number of buses to the fleet as well as the deployment of articulated buses on certain critical routes coupled with the changes introduced on November 6 have helped to enhance the efficiency and reliability of the service. 

"Between Monday and Friday practically all trips were performed on the routes monitored during the morning peak hours namely on Route 2 (Vittoriosa), Route 3 (Xgħajra), Route 31 (Naxxar), Route 41 (Ċirkewwa), Route 51 (Imtarfa), Route 52 (Dingli), Route 53 (Rabat), Route 62 (Siġġiewi), Route 71 (Żurrieq), Route 72 (Qrendi), Route 82 (B’Żebbuġa) and Route 91 (M’Skala). However, gaps in the service were noted on a number of routes, in some cases attributable to the adverse weather conditions, negatively impacting maximum waiting times. Transport Malta noted with satisfaction that Arriva have largely addressed capacity issues by deploying articulated buses on Route 91(M’Skala) and additional buses on other routes during the peak hours."

TM said the data collected for each route over the last two weeks will be used by Transport Malta to determine whether repetitive failures have occurred. In cases where a pattern of delay is established Transport Malta will fine Arriva in terms of the contract.

Transport Malta said that  monitoring exercises were also carried out this week at the Valletta terminus and the Mater Dei Hospital/University interchange to ensure that all services were operating in accordance with the schedule and to identify any gaps in the services.

"Although services connecting towns and villages to Mater Dei have improved considerably Transport Malta is still not satisfied with the way some of the direct connections are operating and feels that there is still much room for improvement," the Authority said.

 It added that traffic management measures implemented by the Police with the assistance of the Transport Malta Enforcement Directorate contributed to ensuring that traffic ran smoothly at key junctions throughout the network.