End of January deadline for new bus route timetables

Timetables for the new bus routes will be installed at every bus stop by the end of January, Malta Public Transport has confirmed.

The company also pledged to launch a mobile app that will provide commuters with real-time bus information before the end of March.

“Our priority is to update all the service information as quickly as possible,” MPT general manager Konrad Pule told MaltaToday.

“Indeed, all information in Valletta is updated, and we have already started updating the timetables on over 2,000 bus stops.

“The journey planner on our website has already been updated with all the new routes and timetable information. This is the easiest way to plan a bus journey as it is based on Google Maps, and can also be accessed directly from the Google Maps mobile app.”

He added that MPT officials have also been allocated to key locations like Valletta, Bugibba and Mater Dei to provide assistance to confused commuters, including leaflets with route and timetable information.

19 new bus routes were introduced last Sunday in a shake-up that included tweaks to 30 routes and the removal or replacement of a further nine.

However, the bus stops have not yet been updated to include the new timetables, effectively leaving commuters in the dark over when their bus is scheduled to arrive.

Pule explained that this shortcoming was due to a delay in the implementation of the new routes – due to industrial disputes with unions.

The routes were originally supposed to be introduced in four phases starting in September. However, MPT was forced to postpone the route changes due to a dispute with the General Workers’ Union over bus driver work conditions included in the original revamp. MPT had notably intended to grant drivers five-minute break periods rather than continuous 15-minute ones. They were eventually forced to backtrack from these after the GWU ordered a bus strike –backed by the Union Haddiema Maghqudin - in protest against the “inadequate’ conditions.

Although the company and the union eventually reached an agreement, MPT were left short of time to introduce the new routes, with Pule insisting that they “had to have them in place before the end of the year”. 

“The original plan [to phase in the routes] would have enabled the public to accustom themselves to the new routes gradually, and to us as the bus operators to implement the changes in a realistic timeframe,” he said. “This would have provided sufficient time to change our systems, train the drivers, update the route network and optimize the service itself.

“The implementation of the new routes was delayed for reasons beyond our control, which meant that we had to implement the full set of changes to all the route network in just four weeks.

“This posed significant challenges for us, and we appreciate that it may have caused some inconveniences to the public. We also appreciate our employees’ efforts as it was very tough to implement the changes in such a short time, but we had to have them in place before the end of the year.”

‘Real-time bus app to be launched by March’

Upon their takeover of the Maltese public transport company at the start of the year, Autobuses de Leon had pledged to launch a mobile app that would allow commuters to check the exact location of the bus they are waiting for.

When asked, Pule confirmed that the app – which will be free of charge – will be launched in the first quarter of the new year, along with a new user-friendly website.

“We are going beyond just having timetables on bus stops, and we want to improve our bus user experience,” he said.