We allowed the Labour Party to manipulate us into rage against Arriva. For more of this.
Published:
October 31, 2014 at 1:08am
Weren’t we better off with freshly showered bus drivers wearing a uniform and speaking to us politely?
Apparently, not. We prefer this kind of POSITIVE behaviour.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141030/local/bus-driver-held-us-hostage-for-45-minutes.541875
Evidently there are people who prefer that our public transport drivers be suitable material for recruiting in the MLP aristocratic “soldiers of steel” brigade.
Gone is discipline and forsaken are uniforms. Distinct is the arrogance of Joe Mizzi`s hooligan drivers who stop right in the middle of the road and jam all entailing traffic.
Let alone the danger created to one and all.
Gone are the gentle drivers to be replaced by hooligans who think they are the kings in the Lilliputian realm of the bus.
Gone is uniformity of colour. Never did we have such a vibrant carnival of colours not even when our buses were colour coded.
Compared to what we are getting in public transport, Arriva rides the waves of glory. We only miss Arriva for now we know what we have really lost and what a shambles of a service the two Joeys imposed on us.
Indeed! The national hamalli brigade has taken over and Mizzi seems quite happy with the situation.
Surely bus drivers of this sort are doing a good job of attracting repeat tourist business.
Yesterday afternoon my daughter, 16, returned home saying that the bus driver didn’t stop swearing in Maltese: ‘f’gh*xx ommok’ to every driver that drove past.
So yes I’d much rather have clean, polite and smart drivers like we initially had when Arriva were around. We have now gone back to the savagery of the past. We never learn.
My anger is not with the Malta Labour Party but with the Times for having played the game.
I am not against fair reporting and in no way am suggesting that a newspaper should be censured from criticizing any government but I do take exception to what was once a serious paper having a hidden agenda.
It’s also thanks to the Times’ negative reporting that Arriva was brought down to it’s knees. What good did that do? We lost a decent public transport company which will be replaced by a dubious concoction of foreign and possibly hidden Maltese investors.
The Times kept hinting about Gatt’s resignation yet saw nothing wrong when Mizzi traveled abroad to have talks with the Spanish bus company before closure of the tender.
One has to keep in mind too that the original subsidy was of €4 million a year, what is it going to be now?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111104/local/-I-would-not-like-Gatt-to-go-.392181
At least the UK papers with an agenda are known for their political leaning but the Times has lost its credibility.
No need to burn the Times down this time boys. It’s committed harakiri.
bob-a-job, I agree with you totally except that I am angry at both The Times and the PL.
Actually to be honest, I am very angry at Joe Mizzi because thanks to his mishandling of public transport, driving has become a nightmare.
Yes, The Times and the people who contributed to demonize Arriva are to blame. As we say in Maltese….Alla jbierek, killox qaddej fuq ir-rubini….. never a letter to complain about the current service.
One knows not to expect anything good coming out of the MLP.
My anger towards the Times is that they exploited the gullible who have traditionally relied on them as a source of balanced opinion.
That no longer holds true.
The level of English has reached new lows as has its editing apart from honest and unbiased opinion.
This is from the article in today’s Times on Line under the heading ‘Leisure Clothing workers tell GWU they never witnessed abuse’.
The body copy has this sentence ‘It said that, inn spite of this, it ouraged the police to continue with their investigations so that if such abuse was really being implemented, those responsible would pay for their actions.’
Stupid and careless mistakes, ‘inn’, ‘outraged the police’
Vera tal-biki, anzi tal-misthija.
The current traffic situation is a result of the general public’s move towards private transport (cars). This was caused by the public transport change fiasco. For example, maids at the large institution where I work rushed to find private modes of transport when it started taking them 2.5 hrs (or more) to get to Birkirkara from Zabbar. The journey time was approximately 1hr with the old bus system/entity.
And drivers with radios on while driving. Arriva I miss your drivers.
The current traffic situation is a result of the general public’s move towards private transport (cars).
This was caused by the public transport change fiasco (a.k.a. “Arriva). For example, maids at the large institution where I work rushed to find private modes of transport when the journey time of their morning journey to work became 2.5 hrs (or more) to get to Birkirkara from Zabbar.
The journey time was approximately 1hr with the old bus system/entity (“before Arriva”).
And now we also have kidnappers: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141030/local/bus-driver-held-us-hostage-for-45-minutes.541875
The government is not being transparent on the matter of the power station, so we have to continuously strive to join the dots ourselves. Sometimes, I actually think that there are as many dots as stars in a cloudless night.
This article Daphne wrote a year ago is now even more relevant.
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2013/10/speaking-to-international-oil-daily-gasol-chief-operating-officer-alan-buxton-said-the-success-of-the-project-relied-on-the-recent-landslide-victory-of-the-labor-party-which-came-to-power-in-march/
Evidence that the deal was struck way before the March 2013 election is staring us in the face. We can now easily conclude why the government simply decided to bypass the selection process, including checking the financial stability of suppliers. This was a DONE DEAL.
All this smacks of C, big time.
We had a new service that was still evolving, but many thought that it was fashionable to bad mouth Arriva, unwittingly cooperating with the deliberate political sabotage. There is a very strong link between the transport service and the whole plan to hijack the government through deceit, scam and lies. Have we learned that lesson? I doubt it.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-10-31/local-news/Concern-over-environment-sees-Din-l-Art-Helwa-write-open-letter-to-Prime-Minister-6736124718
This story is not the exception but the rule these days.
Hamallagni ad infinitum.
So many bus schemes have come and gone and the same old drivers are still there. They must think they’re untouchable now.
Arriva for some reason or another were never in the plans of the PL. There was a total boycott from day one.
Arriva had it’s problems, but these in my opinion was caused mostly by one single factor. IMPLEMENTATION.
The concept was radically changed for public transport, and we are not too keen on radical change overnight. Arriva and TM had to phase in Arriva gradually. Study each new route to see the weak points of the route, then when running smoothly move on.
Secondly, the whole ticketing system was flawed, the bus driver should never be involved in handling cash and distributing tickets. This in itself causes delays.
When the PL came to power and decided that the bendy buses were to be stopped. Did the government sit down with Arriva to renegotiate the added cost of operation. €30,000 daily to UBS to supply us with the worst buses possible. Were Arriva ever offered to increase prices and triple the subsidy? I think not, so the only solution was for Arriva to cut their losses.
If the Spanish Company from Day I will be responsible for the whole public transport network and the same ticketing system it will fail. Spring cleaning is one thing, a complete renovation of a house is another thing.
Did the government factor the losses that are now being borne by the public, when negotiating with Arriva? I think not. The Min., responsible had said on Dissett that Arriva were operating with €1 million in losses monthly. The Min. Of incompetence had stated that under government the losses would be reduced, due to better management! Now history tells us that any entity under government control is bound to increase losses not decrease. That is why the said Minister is refusing to publish the financial results under TM’s management.
Nor only, but the planned full summer schedule, notwithstanding the lease of buses from the UK at a cost of €2,4 million, was never introduced in it’s entirety. Forget the fact that the air conditioning did not work and the buses were more useful as saunas emitting noxious smells, than a form of transport.
So when the Minister deems that us imbeciles are entitled to see the contract with Ferdinando Alonzo & Co., and test the system will the total incompetence be revealed.
In case of Arriva, there was also the collusion in badmouthing of one of the local papers in English (No prize in getting the right one but some years ago, it was burned down by MLP rabble in collusion with powers that be.)
What the hell is wrong with that particular newspaper?
I never seen such a one-sided newspaper, and it censors three quarters of contributed decent comments.
What is it hiding and who controls it?
“Secondly, the whole ticketing system was flawed, the bus driver should never be involved in handling cash and distributing tickets. This in itself causes delays.”
Agreed. Now some drivers are issuing those tickets where one has to scratch off time, day, month, etc. The driver does the scratching, adding God knows how much time to a journey that is already overly long due to the insane traffic we have here.
I encountered a bus driver a few weeks ago who missed 2 stops on the Strand (the two between the Ferries and KFC in Gzira) “because people were ringing too much” (his words).
I informed him that people were ringing because he did not stop at the bus stops and that I would report him.
He said I could please myself, so I emailed Transport Malta with a photo of the bus in question, asking them for a refund of my ticket since I was not served properly.
To their credit, they replied promptly and said they would investigate. I was never refunded, though.
I bet that by now Joe Mizzi, the transport and traffic expert minister, will insist with Transport Malta Chairman to send for Mr John Kane to establish who the driver was, and to take appropriate action against him.
Hoss fl-ilma.
The deterioration of traffic congestion happened months after the removal of bendy buses from our public transport system. It is no coincidence. The removal of bendy buses has resulted in more crowding on buses and longer waiting times on bus stops. These are strong disincentives against the use of public transport.
Because of a deteriorated public transport service, those who might have been enticed to use public transport chose to continue using their own car instead. A poor public transport service brings with it traffic congestion.
The removal of bendy buses, coupled with Arriva’s expulsion, were NOT IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST because we are now saddled with disastrously congested road traffic at peak hours.
The real idiocy lies in dropping a contract with one operator and then start negotiations with another.
I expect Joe Mizzi, bil-ghaqal, to retort, which is worse.
Public transport is a disaster and I cannot see anyone doing anything about it. A ten-minute drive by car from Birkirkara to Valletta on a Sunday took me an hour and a half on Monday (from 7.10am to 8.45am).
All the buses are full by the time they arrive at Birkirkara, the drivers are increasingly being rude and if you manage to get on one, don’t expect the A/C to be switched on (because, you know, it’s freezing outside).
I think Malta has too many people for its size.
Getting rid of three quarters of the population will make living on Malta more enjoyable for the ones who remain, even with archaic roads and buildings or public service etc.
I imagine Malta would be more like it was in the 1880s, except people now are not hungry for want of food and they have shoes and mobile phones and hot water and soap and the average life expectancy is not 47 any more.
TRANSPORT: The mentioned rage had reached such hysterical proportions that the PN was overwhelmed and found it difficult to defend its record in the sector, which was not all bad.
FACT: The monopoly enjoyed by the hearses and white taxi owners was removed, no mean feat given the types one was dealing with.
FACT: The introduction of the sight seeing tourist buses was opposed by many in the tourist industry who preferred a stutus quo.
FACT: Getting rid of the old belching, bone rattling buses and their uncouth drivers was no mean feat.
FACT: Anyone you care to mention, first amongst them the PL and GWU, criticized the amount of compensation given to the bus owners without taking into consideration that the sum offered was a fraction of what the bus license was worth on the black market.
FACT: Transport Malta held wide consultations with the local councils and NGO’s before issuing the tender documents.Not one of them found any objection or came up with suggestions.
FACT: ARRIVA, a multi national company, with vast experience in public transport, won the tender.
Arriva, I repeat, a MULTI NATIONAL with VAST EXPERIENCE IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT not only accepted the routes, and time frames planned by Transport Malta, but also accepted hefty penalties should it fail to deliver. Clearly it thought that the arrangement was doable and profitable.
FACT: ARRIVA delivered euro 5 engined,air conditioned, low floored ,spacious, mostly brand new buses. Even the much maligned bendy buses gave a great service on the Sliema , Valletta, Airport and Gozo routes and allowed direct accesibility to pushchair and wheelchair users.
ARRIVA replaced the mostly uncouth bus drivers with smart and well mannered young men and women. The only drawback was that they wern’t as ‘assertive’ as their predecessors.
FACT: Things did not go as planned. Transport Malta was to blame for raising expectations and the vastly experienced Arriva was to blame for endorsing Transport Malta’s plan lock stock and barrel.
FACT: Suddenly, when prior to the event no one had doubted that the public transport reform could be successful, the experts that had kept silent all along let fly, led superbly by The Times of Malta, the PL and the Austin Gatt admirers.
FACT: It became obvious that both Transport Malta and Arriva had got it wrong badly and that Arriva could not sustain its financial loses indefinitely.
FACT: There was one solution. To rehash the contract offering Arriva a better deal through an increase in fares and subsidy. With the election round the corner the government was reluctant to take such action.
FACT: In the mean time Arriva was purchased by DEUTCHE BAHN which operates in 130 countries and employs 300,000 people.
This government, instead of negotiating a deal with this giant of a company that by know had become accustomed to the Maltese way of doing things, and must have been prepared to bend backwards to try and salvage some pride, preferred a political solution.
Bottom line is that the PL government has wasted nearly two years running an inferior service that is costing the country many more millions of euro and has still to strike a deal with a hardly known minor Spanish operator that still has to learn the ropes.
What irks is that the PN, conditioned by the negative propaganda onslaught, thought it best not to defend its record during the election campaign and its spokesmen, even today, a find it hard to articulate a good response to unfair criticism.
Has any action been taken against this driver? I’ve heard nothing either from Transport Malta nor from the Ministry. or if the police are investigating this crime.