Bus patronage stats include multiple journeys to get to one destination

The statistics presented yesterday by the transport ministry citing a 22% increase in bus commuters using the Arriva service, are based on the number of passengers boarding a bus, and not on the number of tickets sold.

This may well mean that the 800,000-person increase in commuters using the Arriva service include multiple journeys undertaken by individual commuters to get to one destination.

News that passengers using the Arriva bus service had increased from 2.9 million in August 2010 to 3.7 million in August, despite wildcat strikes, stranded passengers and numerous delays, was greeted with some degree of skepticism on the comment boards and Facebook posts. “If you have to catch two buses to go from point A to B instead of one bus, that means that bus use has increased by 100%,” a MaltaToday reader pointed out.

A spokesperson for the transport ministry said the increase in commuters was calculated using the bus counters: “Buses are equipped with passenger counters and count the number of passengers boarding a bus. The figures published are therefore an individual count, not a multiple of tickets sold.”

In the new system, some commuters are using as much as three busses to get to a destination, for example a person living in Marsaskala has to get the circular to the Marsaskala interchange to get to Valletta, and then another bus to go to another destination.

This however does not discount the fact that more people have used the bus service. In the old system, commuters could be expected to catch two busses to get to a destination using the Valletta interchange. Now some commuters need to catch only one bus whereas before they caught two busses, for example catching a bus from San Gwann to Sliema centre.

The ministry said it did not yet have information on the most patronised bus routes.

The main driver of the positive figures was in Gozo, where its previously non-existent bus service was greatly welcomed. In August 2011, 240,000 commuters used the public transport over the 57,000 who used it in 2010 during the same month (an increase of 321%) and in September the figure fell slightly to 207,440. The massive leap reflects the normality of a regular bus service on the sister island, whose connections prior to the reform were poor and not as regular.

In total, in Malta and Gozo commuters increased to 3.7 million in August 2011 over 2.9 million last year (27%) and to 3.1 million in September 2011 over 2.6 million last year (22%).

Transport Minister Austin Gatt said the fact that there are more routes, more destinations and longer services has created more opportunities for people to use public transport.

“This does not take anything away from the justified complaints of passengers, especially morning commuters who are not finding the service satisfactory. Transport Malta will ensure that the operator will keep up to its obligations and provide enough buses to serve all passengers.”