Austin Gatt says GRTU demanded Bisazza pedestrianisation in May

Transport minister Austin Gatt has said the last-minute change to the pedestrianisation of Bisazza Street in Sliema was brought about after the Chamber of SMEs (GRTU) demanded that the road be closed to all traffic, including the new public transport service.

The street was earmarked for "semi-pedestrianisation" that would allow the passage of some eight bus routes - with a bus passing every five minutes - through the street. But this was later changed to have public transport operators Arriva re-route the buses through Tigné, at an unspecified cost borne by the taxpayer.

Gatt said he did not know what sum Transport Malta had to pay Arriva to change the routes' passage, which were previously part of their contract.

“As far as I know, GRTU was against the full pedestrianisation of Bisazza Street until 19 May, when they came out in favour of it. Government then decided to go for it as well and that led to a number of consequences," Gatt said when asked what had led to the mix-up on the project.

Gatt added that Transport Malta’s view was that Bisazza Street should have been partially pedestrianised: “But the political decision was against the technical decision... As politicians, we had to see whether Bisazza Street was better off fully pedestrianised. In this case we think yes, simple as that.”

The minister today went to inspect ongoing works at the bus interchange in Bugibba.

“We are blowing something totally out of proportion... it is not a major issue at all," he said of the Bisazza Street saga.

Gatt said Transport Malta has similar requests from a number of other councils. “Routes are not cast in stone – they are there to be changed. There’s nothing major about it. Government thought that once Bisazza had been pedestrianised, the change should come now rather than six months later,” he said.

Gatt argued that if a locality like Qrendi decides that no buses should pass from its village square, then the routes should be changed accordingly: “And this is what will keep happening. The good thing is that with Arriva we have a framework in which to discuss a change in routes. Before, with the Public Transport Association it used to take hell and I don’t how many times we needed to discuss things."

On 9 May, Transport Malta engineers submitted a report which expressed preference for a partially pedestrianised Bisazza Street, but it was later directed by government to implement full pedestrianisation. Just a month before, the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs -  the ministry that undertook the pedestrianisation project - had asked Transport Malta to consider the complete pedestrianisation of Bisazza Street.

Back in 2009, Transport Malta signed a 10-year contract to operate Malta's bus system which envisioned eight public transport routes passing from Bisazza Street.