Joe Mizzi’s quality leap on the buses. And where are Times of Malta’s Arriva-style stories now?
At half-past seven this morning, I received this email from a young man who gave me his real name, proper email address and mobile phone number:
Dear Daphne
This is my first time corresponding with you, however I could not think of another way to go about this. As you are aware, the public transport situation is gradually decreasing in professionalism, service and overall customer satisfaction.
I just got off BUS 421 (I was on it between 6.30am and 7am) and experienced the now usual erratic driving by a 60+ year old driver, a slightly portly guy with grey hair. Aside from the bad manners and jerky driving, the passengers were treated to a display of racist behaviour of the meanest kind.
Well dressed, quiet immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa boarded the bus and took their place standing in the aisle. The driver took one look at them and shouted “MOVE BACK!” threateningly (forget the Mowv Bakk Plijs).
They obliged, and took it lightly. Believe me, no confrontation was put up from their end. I have seen ASBO behaviour on buses by Maltese teens, Arab groups and European tourists – but these gentlemen were just that. Gentlemen.
At their stop at Floriana Bombi (I should know because I too got off there) they were faced with abuse by the driver, who shouted “NITFAQHOM KOLLHA F’DGHAJSA L-BAHAR!” and made a whole show of it. “GET OFF THE BUS!” he yelled, as one of them actually calmly told him, “You are a bad man”.
They left the bus quietly except for one of them who let this aggressive, racist piece of work get to him when the driver rose from his seat and exhibited threatening behaviour. The passenger had to be held back.
Sorry for the long email, but something must be done to stop these ‘new’ drivers from dragging back our country back to the Middle Ages. I could not feel more embarrassed to be Maltese at this point. I went up to those guys and apologised. All this behaviour does is breed animosity and fuel the Us and Them feeling that is so wrong.
Name and contact details withheld from publication.
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Clearly this young man did not feel he could report the matter to Times of Malta. You are providing a sort of refuge to well-meaning citizens who want to send a message whilst at the same time not wishing to put their name out there.
It is indicative that people (myself included) are reluctant/scared to actually put a name to their comments. There are a variety of reasons. Most valid.
In any case, your network has just increased and I am sure is constantly growing.
Being scared to stand up and be counted is tantamount to cowardice. We learn it at school, at home and even our religion teaches us that we should sacrifice ourselves for those who are oppressed.
I know sometimes it’s difficult because nobody likes getting insulted or injured, but if we are not going to stand up for what we believe in then we cannot grumble and moan about these issues because by doing nothing and being too afraid to speak up we are letting these bullies do as they please. And unfortunately there are many of them.
During the bad ol’ Arriva days the service was costing the tax payer in the region of 8 to 10 million Euro in subsidies per year.
Now, thanks to an incompetent Minister who had made it his mission to destroy Arriva and whom I will not name because I am informed he can read that far, the subsidies are to total between 40 and 45 million Euro in subsidies annually.
This gross inability to administer should have immediately caused his resignation but it seems that in our present warped way of governance, his words speak louder than actions.
L-aqwa’ li ħlisna mill-Arriva u l-bendy buses – mhux xorta moqdijin?
With mobile phones this kind of unacceptable behaviour should be easy to record.
Cyrus Engerer would know all about that.
I still cannot understand how the MLP trust this sly and underhand piece of bad news.
If I remember correctly Arriva had installed cameras on all buses to ensure that their drivers behave correctly and to record all that is happening. Is anyone looking into this video footage?
[Daphne – Arriva is no longer the operator.]
Times of Malta was on the forefront in reporting the ‘bad’ service provided by Arriva, the lateness of some busses, all the funny and stupid accidents the buses were involved in, not to mention the publication of ‘taparsi’ letters from disgruntled ‘ladies’ from Sliema.
Now Times of Malta seems to be enjoying its ride with this Government.
Well….do as I do. I just don’t buy Times of Malta any more, and do not even click onto its website any longer. All I see now are Daphne’s website and The Malta Independent. They make for a much more reliable (and enjoyable) read.
Daphne, your website is our only source of refuge.
Report the bastard
And while in another world, young people looking for a job are advised to be careful on the content of their Facebook page, in Malta we have a bunch of hamalli, employed by this government of hamalli who enjoy exposing their sorry asses on Facebook because they think it will make them more popular on their jobs.
Not to mention the soldiers and police who are there to serve and to protect all, without any distinction of religion, colour or ethnicity.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/21/a-way-to-rid-your-social-media-of-embarrassments/?_php=true&_type=blogs&smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=TE_NOF_20140623&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_r=2&
MLP did everything possible to destroy Arriva in Malta and this heidous incident was the result of the new bus company. Too bad these Africans didn’t take matters into their own hands and taught him a lesson.
The Africans did the right thing and not give this piece of scum a chance to become even more aggressive towards them.
And, in case things had gone out of hand, who would have been beaten up at Police HQ, the driver or the immigrants?
Well, let’s hope that on seeing this, Times of Malta and other newspapers catch on like they usually do with the other stories that are reported here first.
Transport Malta should get that driver off their employee list! Racism is not acceptable or should definitely not be encouraged. He should be told off!
I would put him on the Marsa – Hal Far route till he learns his lesson.
Wrong, Dr. Joseph Muscat will proclaim him a SULDAT TA L-AZZAR, will give him a hug for showing courage in his convictions.
Not if, by coincidence, he happens to be ‘tal-qalba’!
“And where are Times of Malta’s Arriva-style stories now?”
Kurt Sansone is being kept busy trying to work out his way through the maze that is the new power station project.
My bet is that he still has not figured out the difference between a power purchase agreement for 18 years – billions of Euros worth of gas and electric generation – and a share purchase agreement for Malta Power and Gas Limited – Euro 30 million kollox.
ciccio, you forgot the under-the-table commissions built in the secret contracts and which will finance Labour’s next election campaign…
The fact that this young man felt the need to resort to this blog to report a racist crime does not reflect well on the police at all.
I wonder how many of us out there realize that reporting to the police does not guarantee justice being done, and that adherence to the rule of law that the police are there to ensure is a thing of the past.
If this young man had gone to the police with this report, it would probably have backfired on him at worst, or simply have been ignored at the least.
That’s what happens with the police and their commissioner in the control of somebody like Manuel Mallia.
Actually reporting anything to the police at any time was a risk. The police had the habit of telling the culprit who reported him/her.
It seems as if they employed some of the previous drivers who had not been chosen by Arriva, as the general standard has really gone down the drain.
Their ‘uniform’ also changed. The ties are gone, and their trousers are either dark blue or black.
The air conditioning has changed from freezing to barely there (if it is switched on at all), and the waiting times not only did not improve, but are worse than when Arriva was in charge.
The upgraded bus terminus is slowly reverting to what we had before, with groups of bus drivers eating, drinking and shouting. About two weeks ago they even put up an umbrella stuck in a plastic bucket for some shade (I will send the picture separately).
For shame. This attitude is not reserved to bus drivers only. I work in an office with ‘educated’ colleagues who display a shameful attitude towards African immigrants. They call them ‘xadini’ and ‘injuranti’ and ‘aggressivi’ and ‘kriminali’.
When I challenge them to explain why they think that way, they just shrug and say ‘because they are’. So stupid it makes my blood boil and I retreat to my office to simmer down.
I do not have opportunities to meet African immigrants in my everyday life except for the two who collect my rubbish from my doorstep. Wenever I happen to be outside, they always reply in a happy, friendly voice ‘you’re welcome’ to my ‘thank you’.
I cannot say the same for the Maltese who used to collect the garbage before that, who gave me blank stares and ignored me completely when I said my usual ‘thank you’.
Who are the real ‘injuranti’?
The difference is that the ‘uneducated’ Africans are taught to respond to a courteous greeting with a respectful reply, but the brilliant Maltese are never taught anything about proper manners, let alone respect.
I recall Simon Busuttil speaking in parliament 1 year ago, asking Joseph Muscat what he had achieved through his stand on push-backs and his macho attitude vis-à-vis immigration.
He warned that this ‘game’ would only serve to heighten intolerance and foment xenophobic and racist attitudes. There you have it.
Talk about service with a smile
Racism in Malta increased considerably since PM Joseph Muscat ordered push-back to incoming immigrants and threatened EU with veto.
At that time President Marie Lewis Coleiro Preca was a member of the Cabinet and stood four squares with Joseph Muscat on these issues. Her rhetorical talk about more involvement with the immigrant community is unconvincing.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-06-24/news/president-awaiting-confirmation-to-visit-vatican-5596872706/
Someone’s definitely not impressed. Now if there’s something the Vatican can do is send signals via protocol.
Or better, if she didn’t have the time, why should he?
Clowns will be clowns.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/europe_2014/40390/wilders_and_le_pen_fail_to_form_ep_group#.U6k-WJSSyig
There’s a big decline on all fronts.
We are riding old buses again, no air-conditioning and no leg room.
We are paying more than we used to, so I expect a better vehicle.
These thugs are back on the road – just yesterday I experienced this driver in shorts and wife-beater vest.
It does seem to me that these ‘auxiliary’ drivers expect to take over the service in toto.
Given the UHM’s call to action over the basics of representation and what its soft spoken secretary has called a crisis in trade union relations.
Malta does not deserve any better if the aspiration is to allow these individuals to feel accepted for what they are.
The fact Manuel hints at removing a minimum of entry requirements into the police force should compound the alarm signals.
What I find fascinating is whether Labour manipulates these limits or is indeed a limited party itself.
It seems to be taking so long for the public transport to be sold or whatever that by that time we will be using obsolete coaches and it will be time to have them all changed.
Why was Minister Mizzi so rash in making life difficult for Arriva, if he did not have anybody to take over?
I think he would have been more careful if it was his money.
Any businessman worth his salt would have gone about it in a very different way.
Why was Minister Mizzi so rash in making life difficult for Arriva, if he did not have anybody to take over?
My gut feeling is that he does have.
It will probably be a Maltese consortium made up of owners of unscheduled coaches who will split the 45 million Euro in subsidies between them. (‘Them’ being the unknown factor)
The Spanish contender is just smoke screen.
‘Iz-Zmien il-Buzullotti spiċċa’
A 45 million euro subsidy for Maltese bus service operators is a waste of public funds when one considers that had Arriva stayed on, the subsidy would have been 10 million euros.
Kollox bizilla.
A simple answer to your question?
Because he is utterly incompetent in the matter – Period.
Do we not recall the famouse phrase by an owner-driver on receiving compensation from the government for his old bus: Austin Gatt will have to give us these Arriva buses for free as the system will fail.
I hope that I’m wrong in saying that they (Taghna lkoll thug) want to control public transport as well.
I am referring to the newly imported buses. So far I have only used the small ones. For sure I cannot imagine 24 standing passengers on them.
Today with just 11 standing it was really crowded, and I could not imagine where they could have another 13 standing passengers.
Also we were told that the buses are fully air-conditioned which is not the case.
There is a big difference between an air-conditioner and a blower. In fact now they have to open the 3 small windows available.
Shame! This bus driver should be dismissed immediately. He is there to provide a good service to everyone.
We were taught that “all the children in the world are my brothers and sisters” and we are surely all equal before God. People should be judged by their behaviour not by the colour of their skin.
It’s all fueled by their charismatic Leader, Zoezev.