Public Transport in Malta - Mary Durphee

This post originally appeared in Mary Durphee's blog: Maltadventure and is reproduced with kind permission of the author.

Malta is a bit less than twice the size of Washington DC (proper, not all the suburbs). It is densely populated. It is fairly wealthy. Malta is one of the most wired countries in all of the EU and it shifted to the Euro with aplomb. Vast numbers of its young people go to university. It has thoughtful and decent medical care. It should have the most perfect public transportation in the world. Instead, it has a mess.

Public transportation is so "out of synch" for the quality of the country that I simply can't get over it. The bus system is an embarrassment to the country, and it is one of the major reasons why there is so much air pollution (over 30 times the EU limit!) and traffic congestion.

I've been appalled by the buses ever since I got here. I decided, however, to keep riding them to give them a fair run. But, now I've been here and on those buses for seven months.

What's good

1. They are inexpensive--.54 Euros (~75-80 cents US) for me to get from my home to university, a bit less if I just want to go a little ways. I think they are perhaps free or nearly so when you are retired.

2. They go everywhere, with a bit less service on Gozo.

3. If you want to go to Valletta there are a lot of choices.

4. Around 31 million people ride in a given year.

What's Not Good

1. If you are going to the university or Mater Dei hosptial from the St Paul's Bay/ Mellieha bus every hour, because the two most likely buses often run about 5 minutes apart from each other.

2. Because they don't have enough bus service at peak times, you need to allocate TWO hours to get 15 km if you have to get to a meeting. I needed to go the hospital for care and ended up waiting 1 hour and 40 minutes for a bus in St. Paul's Bay. Possibly I could have gotten one sooner if I'd walked to a more distant stop (which I normally do...but I wasn't feeling so hot). But one of the buses that would have taken me was full and so it blew by me and it would still have been full at the other stop. I waited another 40 minutes.

3. They do not appear at reliable times. This is not just in my area and it is not just a whining American--I hear this from the Maltese who take the bus. There is roughly a 20 minutes early/late gap. Hard to plan, hard to be on time.

4. The buses need replacement or at least shocks. Some are getting replaced. Check out the website of the bus service: http://www.maltatransport.com/en/ptd/passengertransport/routebus/

5. The buses often allow diesel fumes into the bus--I had to put up a plastic bag against the window, on one junker running between my area and Rabat.

6. Buses that are going to the hospital may have very high steps. Only a few buses are modern and can "kneel" for the elderly or handicapped or sick. In my view no bus going to Mater Dei hospital should be inaccessible to the infirm.

7. The buses have no heat or air conditioning (or none that I've noticed).

8. Some, BUT certainly NOT ALL, bus drivers are rude and abusive. I have also had wonderfully kind drivers, the ones who could help train their colleagues in customer service and quality.

9. While there is no smoking on the bus, the drivers routinely smoke.

10. If you don't know where a numbered bus is going, you have to stop the bus to ask. The driver will either be helpful or swear at you and pull away.

11. I don't think they use operations research to figure out when to put more or fewer buses on the road.

12. Buses are owned by the individual drivers, so there is almost no control over them.

Taxis are extremely expensive--I checked on the fare to Mater Dei and they wanted 20 Euros (30 US). I do take cabs, but I try to minimize it.

RESULTS: Malta roads are jam packed, it can take two hours to get from St Paul's Bay to the university by car if it has rained, depending on construction blockages and accidents. Most cars--like the US, only on a tiny space--have one person in them. There are no rail systems or subway systems. I think the extreme use of cars, other than a Maltese love for independence, is due to the unreliability of the bus service and possibly the need for more earlier and later buses.

Tourists use the buses a lot. Perhaps it is charming for two or three days. It is not charming thereafter.

What I wonder.

While, I don't understand why the system isn't nationalized, I will respect the drivers who love their buses and who want to hand down the work to their sons (I've never seen a female driver, but they may exist).

A) Raise prices to a Euro, so that drivers can afford the rising price of gas. If the government wants to subsidize users and not foreigners like me, that would be fine. This would also save the drivers a lot of time making change.

B) Ask the University to help them with operations research.

C) Change the rules on what buses can go to the hospital.

D) Turn on the heat and AC when it gets extreme--wind in the windows only helps a little.

E) Have extra buses from the Gozo ferry to university, especially in early morning from the ferry and late afternoon from the U. Perhaps there should be a dedicated one for Gozitan students going home for the weekend.

F) Have some smaller van type operations that cost more, but might be deployed as needed or on a highly regular bases between places. I don't know if "on demand" would make sense--5 Euros to go the hospital or get near where an appointment is going to be, would be no problem for me. It wouldn't have to be door to door. even.

G) Consider adding a monorail, train, subway.

H) Perhaps there could be more regular ferry service to more places, but I have little experience with this.

I) Introduce the concept of car pooling to the Maltese.

In American cities, where there is high density, all kinds of people--bankers, govt workers, teachers, sales people, iron workers, you name it--take public transportation.

It is just what's done. Here, there is a tendency to think the bus is for students, the poor, pensioners, and tourists who won't be back. Better public transportation could move Malta in a better direction. I want the bus drivers to have a good living; I want Malta to be livable.

OK. I'm done with my soapbox. My apologies if I have, as the outsider, given offense.

Back to the Future

It's 2008 and Transport is on the agenda. Public transport that is. We're not reinventing the wheel - transport is on the agenda everywhere - see the UK and it's airport terminal, railway and motorway mess, see the Europeans dealing with too many cars and too many fumes, see Beijing engulfed in smog... It's good to keep that perspective in mind, if only not to be accused of the "malti ta' barra" syndrome - criticising what is going on back home because you have supposedly found a greener grass elsewhere.

So it's down to the nitty-gritty. The facts are in our face. A brontosauran bus system, a taxi market that is still not as liberalised as it should be and the increasing dependence on private cars in an island that is barely 20 by 15 km in size. Malta is fast shooting up the charts for the number of cars per capita and yet the words "public transport" still bring to mind the same old xarabank.

I'm interested in contributing to this blog because the idea is one that obsesses me. I will put my cards on the table and state what, in my mind, constitute the main lines of a proper transport system (a sort of brainstorming exercise to introduce my point of view):

1. LESS CARS - much much less.
2. SMALLER CARS - preferably with a limit on power
3. SKELETON RAIL SYSTEM - mainframe of public transport based on one largish train linking ends of island (incuding Gozo?) and smaller trams in built up areas
4. ELECTRIC BUSES
5. RENT-a-CYCLE AREAS IN BUILT UP AREAS - like Veloh in Luxembourg and Paris
6. USE OF THE SEA IN CLEMENT WEATHER - more water taxis
7. MORE LEGISLATION ON PARKING - no building commercial or private allowed if it does not cater for parking
8. INCREASE IN PARK & RIDE AREAS until phasing out of cars is finalised

There that's a five minute quick taster. More elaboration with more time. I dream of the day when a person can live in Gharb and commute by Bike or Bus + Train + Tram to Valletta for work. An efficient system will probably get him there in under fourty minutes. Less cars on the road, cleaner air and all you do is sit on the train, listen to the ipod and take in what will probably be one of the most scenic clean rides in the Mediterranean. How's that for a cool tourist destination?

is that an enormous cloud of grey lead-addled smoke emanating from your exhaust pipe or are you just pleased to see me?

The silver lining of the current dispute is that the Maltese seem to be clearly more open to different modes of public transport than they were just five or ten years ago. Indeed, Transport Minister Austin Gatt's speech on, amongst other things, the re-introduction of the tram system hasn't been met with a chorus of ridicule but with intelligent (and, in some cases, slightly bemusing) comments. Most of them seem to second the Minister's view- which is just as well as it is a pretty reasonable one an' all...

It is interesting to note that a good fifty years ago commuters had a wider selection of different modes of transport at their disposal - buses, trains and trams. We've only got the buses left now - and in several cases the very same ones we had back then.

The time has come for Malta to seriously consider a light rail, light metro or rapid tram system.

In other news Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar have asked to the public to back up the government position on the matter. No need to tell them that - they're clearly right behind you. Presumably the only way commuters would back the drivers over the Government is if they'd all suddenly start suffering from an acute case of mass Stockholm Syndrome...

The public transport system in Malta is broken. Who is going to fix it?

In virtually all countries, public transport companies are either publicly-run or privately-run. In the former case drivers are employees of the city, region or country. In the latter, a private company operates a pre-established route and has to fulfil rigorous targets set by the appointing administration. If it doesn't meet these targets, the company risks hefty fines and losing the contract to another operator.

Malta's system is a complicated mixture of the two, with the notable difference being that over the years it has accrued all the disadvantages of both systems without benefiting from either of the advantages.

The Public Transport Authority is, in all but name, a private company. The main difference is that this company is always awarded the contract irrespective of whether targets have been met or not.

Although several bus drivers conduct themselves with decorum and have a strong professional conscience, the system makes it such that such behaviour isn't rewarded, as the new contract will be issued once again irrespective of how drivers have behaved, whether ridership continued to dwindle, whether new innovative measures or whether pre-set goals were achieved or not.

Why bother playing if you're always going to win?

This gives bus-drivers (and thus the Public Transport Authority) free reign to do as they please without holding them accountable for their actions or choices. The outright elimination of competition and the automatic attribution of a contract to what is essentially a private company - without this contract being tied to performance, innovation, targets or conduct - is not only a suicidal move, but is a scandalous waste of tax-payers money.

Furthermore, any innovation has been steadfastly refused (directly or indirectly) by the aforementioned association. Tickets may be bought from the ticketing machine at the Valletta bus terminus, but these won't be accepted by the bus drivers. Cards may be bought to be swiped through the on board card-reader... but the card-reading machines are not actually used.

Any other changes such as changes in routes, roster or reorganisation have traditionally been met with contention or downright hostility.

We would like to see someone put an end to this. It's all well and good pontificating about how the transport system needs to be reformed, but we've heard that for decades now. The system cannot be reformed because it is inherently wrong. There is nothing to reform, but all to rebuild.
We've had words, let's have some action now.