One million bus passengers in week leading up to Santa Marija

A total of one million passengers travelled by bus between Monday 8 and Sunday 14 August, making last week the busiest of the year so far.

“We are experiencing a steady growth in the number of passengers who are travelling on our buses, and we are constantly implementing new measures to meet this increase in the demand for our bus service,” said Konrad Pulé, general manager at Malta Public Transport (MPT).

“I would like to take the opportunity to thank all our team for their efforts particularly in this busy period.”

Last month, MPT increased bus frequencies on six routes servicing the Cirkewwa, Bugibba and Sliema areas as well as operating six new Tallinja Direct special services in these areas and the airport, providing 160 additional trips per day.

In just over a year, MPT increased its fleet from 260 buses to 400, making the bus fleet in Malta one of the youngest and most environmentally-friendly ones in Europe.

With a strong ongoing recruitment drive, the number of drivers has doubled to over 1,000, the majority of whom are Maltese.

The tallinja card system has proven very popular and the new tallinja app lets customers view real-time bus arrival times on their smartphones.

“We are focused on making travel easier and better for our passengers,” continues Pulé. “Our investment in new buses, digital technology and smart ticketing is paying off as we are seeing confidence in the bus service growing consistently. We will continue to listen to what our passengers are telling us, in order to encourage even more people to use the bus.”