Damned foreigners update – on the buses

Published: January 12, 2015 at 12:55pm

This piece was sent in by Benny Bradlee:

I wasn’t going to write about this incident that happened on one of the buses last Thursday evening in the light of what is going on in the world. But the more I think of it, the more I became convinced that I should.

I was travelling on the 41 bus last Thursday. The bus that met the 6.00pm ferry in Cirkewwa. I boarded with a small group of tourists – Japanese, Italians and French.

Two French-speaking people were sitting just in front of me. At some point just before Mosta square, two ticket inspectors boarded the bus to check our tickets. The couple in front of me, a man and a woman showed one of the inspectors their ticket. He informed them peremptorily that this is not the right ticket.

The woman told the inspector that she bought the ticket from the hotel where she was informed that it is the ticket to use when meeting the transport at the ferry. She used the word ‘navette’ meaning that she thought that it was a direct bus from the ferry to their hotel.

The inspector wasn’t even listening. Had he listened properly – true their English wasn’t perfect but neither was his – he would have realised that it was an honest mistake. Even because there is no guidance at the ferry terminal and basically one just hops on any bus that arrives since the terminal was basically deserted.

The woman also told the inspector that if this is not the right ticket how come the bus driver waved them in when her husband showed it to him. He went apoplectic and brought over his colleague who was still checking the tickets at the back of the bus. Then they both went into harassment mode. Basically demanding a fine of 20 euro. When the lady kept insisting that the driver was also to blame they carried on with their bullying tactics.

In the end, they made the driver stop at the Mosta police station. These jokers then alighted the bus and returned with two policemen straight from Keystone Kops. They hauled the poor couple of the bus to make them ‘pay’.

To add insult to injury, a black man, who was travelling on the bus and was sitting just across from me shouted at them: Ejja come on, haqqalmadoffi get off the bus.

The police ignored him but they dragged these poor people, who were in their 60s off the bus to take their statement at the police station




26 Comments Comment

  1. Tutti Frutti says:

    Not only ignorance and arrogance it’s the way they were nurtured (those driving the bus et al)

  2. Dott Abjad says:

    So the Malta Tourism Authority and tourism ministries spend millions to attract tourists to Malta all year round only to have nincompoops like these bus inspectors to f*^&$* it all up.

  3. Wheels within Wheels says:

    Well that’s one couple and their circle of friends and families who will not be visiting Malta ever again. The price of ignorance and simple bad manners.

  4. TC says:

    And this was just the first day of the new operators

  5. Mila says:

    Was that the first day of the soft launch of the new operators?

    Would they issue a statement informing the public how commuters can expect to be treated by their inspectors and whether inspectors can all speak the two official languages of Malta fluently?

    Perhaps they should also explain whether there is adequate information near the Gozo ferries or whether ‘soft launch’ is an excuse which translates to ‘but we are still evolving, even basic needs’.

  6. Wilson says:

    The Maltese?! The Maltese are very friendly, ta, hi. They are going to teach foreigners some of their hospitality according to the tourism minister.

  7. tinnat says:

    Dear Benny Bradlee, what did you do? Did you ask the inspectors to leave the couple alone? Did you report the inspectors? If you just shut up and let them be, then I’m afraid you are as bad as they are.

    • Benny Bradlee says:

      tinnat, oh the joys of keyboard warriors. You do not know what I did. Not everything is up for consumption.

      Besides, here I gave enough information for anyone who wants to trace the inspectors – what bus I took, what time and which day – so don’t sit there behind your keyboard and lecture me on what I should have done.

      Your tone is very reminiscent of the tone used by these people. So take a walk, will you?

      • tinnat says:

        Apologies if I thought you sounded like 90% of the grumbling population who, when presented with substandard food in a restaurant, or when witnessing some form of unfairness, can only grumble afterwards and say “Heqq, jekk nghidilhom mhux kollu ghalxejn?”

  8. Painter says:

    “true their English wasn’t perfect but neither was his”

    Why am I not surprised that the English of the inspectors was miserable?

  9. Pb says:

    This is how you would be treated anywhere else on Europe if you don’t have a valid ticket. I wonder what would happen to me in France if I didn’t have a valid bus ticket. Ignorance is no excuse.

    • Wilson says:

      Name one country.

    • Liberal says:

      I can vouch that this is untrue. One time when I was in London, I forgot to check my Oyster card and boarded a bus when I had no credit in the card. An inspector came aboard and I explained that I was a tourist and had made an honest mistake. Not only did he not harass me or report me, but he allowed me to get off at the next stop to top up my card.

      • zz. says:

        Lucky you! The reaction I got from public customer service in London was always hurried, stern with a tinge of annoyance.

  10. zz. says:

    I agree that the inspector’s approach was completely wrong. Their customer service ability is zilch. But, the French couple were wrong. If I were the inspector I would have been more patient, explained better but at the end if the day the French couple had to pay.

    • Clem says:

      If you were the inspector then perhaps you would have understood that it was a genuine mistake, and used your discretion to let them off (the hook, not the bus).

      • zz. says:

        Inspectors are not paid to use discretion. They are paid to apply the rule. If they use their discretion they would be breaking rules themselves.

    • Liberal says:

      The problem with your reasoning is that you think very short term. Make them pay the fine and you get your pittance. Empathise with them and you win a good name for your country.

      All tourists talk about the good and bad in the countries they visit. The last thing we need is bad and irreversible publicity. This apart from the fact that understanding it was a genuine mistake and empathising with people in unfamiliar surroundings is the decent thing to do.

      • zz. says:

        Inspectors are not paid to think long term. They are paid to apply the rule. Vide previous reply.

        Same applies.

      • Liberal says:

        “Inspectors are not paid to think long term. They are paid to apply the rule. Vide previous reply”.

        Thinking long term comes naturally to normal intelligent people. You don’t have to be paid for it. Vide my post about the bus inspector in London.

      • zz. says:

        Thinking long term is the task of an executive and not of an inspector. No matter how you classify people (ie intelligent or not) doing a job, a task is to be carried out as expected and prescribed and not arbitrarily.

  11. Persil says:

    The transport people are going to receive training. Some can never be trained. The uniform does not give one the licence to be arrogant.

  12. Herbie says:

    From what I could piece together these tourists fell for the scam sold by a number of bucket shops selling cheap tours to tourists making them beleive that all is included in the price.
    I have come across such instances many a time in my profession as a tourist guide.

    They sell them a Gozo tour with no guide. Upon arriving on Gozo they have to meet someone carrying a piece of paper with the name of the agent selling the tour and taken around Gozo with no guide which is illegal.

    When they come to board the ferry boat they discover that they have to pay for the ferry ticket and when they return to Malta they are left wandering around to find their way back to their hotel some of them actually taking the public transport in the belief that the voucher given to them at the hotels from, where a number of such bucket shops operate, entitles them to make use of public transport.

    Believe you me this is a very common occurrence and the numerous complaints raised by the guides’ union about such and other infringements to the Malta Tourism Authority have always and I repeat always fallen on deaf ears.

    Regarding the attitude of the bus inspectors it might have been a bit overboard but then again this does not happen only in Malta.

    • H. Prynne says:

      “This does not only happen in Malta”

      Oh! That’s all right then.

      This line of reasoning really gets my goat.

  13. C Mangion says:

    Badges and uniforms! Everyone’s ego seems to be through the roof these days.

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