Students show greater desire for direct bus routes, study shows

Three in four post-secondary and tertiary students (76%) are using public transport buses to travel to educational institutions as their main mode of transport.

Malta Public Transport said a study had shed light on the travel patterns of over 2,000 post-secondary and tertiary students from various educational institutions including the University of Malta (26%), Junior College (21%), MCAST (29%) and other post-secondary schools.

The study revealed that a majority of students (76%) use public transport buses to go to school or lectures, with 65% of students claiming that they have used the bus daily in the past six months.

The study, which was carried out during February and March this year, also indicated that 91% of students would be willing to walk an additional 5 minutes to get to a bus stop that serves a direct and faster route, 90% of students would use public transport more if journey times are reduced by 25%, and 87% of students consider a bus service with a frequency of 15 minutes to be efficient.

“This clearly indicates that the demand for public transport will increase if buses are more frequent and take less time to arrive at their destination,” MPT said.

Building on the success of the student survey and as part of its ongoing strategy to update the current public transport network, Malta Public Transport is now calling on all members of the public to take part in a new mobility survey.

“The survey aims to gather information on travel patterns in the Maltese Islands to understand travel requirements in order to improve the current bus route network, in collaboration with Government and other stakeholders,” MPT said.

“Malta Public Transport hopes that the current survey available to all members of the public will yield more valuable insights into travel needs and preferences so that the bus route network can be updated into one that meets the current and future needs of the population.”