Buses carried 53.4 million passengers in 2018

A new record has been set in public transport, with Malta Public Transport (MPT) saying in a press release that 53.4 million passengers were transported by public buses in 2018.

This represents an increase of 11.3% over 2017 when the company carried 48 million passengers in a single year.

"We are very proud to be carrying 14 million people more than we carried in our first year of operation," said Konrad Pulé, MPT's General Manager, adding that this constant growth is a clear sign that the confidence in public transport is increasing.

The most popular routes, the ones carrying the most passengers, were those serving Sliema, St Julian's, Bugibba and Cirkewwa, with route 13 carrying over 3 millions a year on its own.

Other routes that had increased in popularity over the year were those serving Mater Dei and university bus stops, which had seen passenger numbers increase by 13%.

"Our thanks goes to all our passengers, who are choosing to travel by bus instead of using a car," Pulé said.

The busiest day in 2018 in terms of passengers was 8 August, with over 186,000 passengers using the bus on this day alone. This was another record, given that the highest amount of passengers that used the bus service in any day in 2017 was 164,000.

MPT also thanked its employees. "These results encourage us to continue working hard to improve our bus service further in order to attract more and more people to use the bus, with the aim of reducing the number of cars on our roads."