Are the bendy-buses driving you round the bend? If you drive around the island of Malta the answer is most probably “yes”. Even the non-bendy ones are too wide for our roads. They are impossible to overtake, hence the congestion but the bendies are by far the worst.
The latter have a belly full to deal with right now. What with Franco Debono, who is like one of those pesky little dogs who yap non stop and fail to bite, the other rebel backbenchers and Frank Portelli’s hospital.
But back to the buses. The LP has stated it will follow Tory, London mayor Boris Johnson and rid us of what he called “the diplodocuses that jack knife over the yellow box junctions like beached whales.”
The only thing I did not like about Boris’s speech was his addendum “I am delighted to say” to “they are now clogging up the streets of Malta.” Why should he be delighted? He should be commiserating with us that we got lumbered with his rejects.
I have been following comments on the many articles related to all Arriva buses, not just the bendy ones, ever since they started operating here. I also listen to people relating their experiences on the beach and other public places and have seen a fair number of broken down buses while driving and those were not involved in accidents.
“Arriva route buses were involved in 1,294 accidents between the beginning of July last year and the end of April this year”, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi told Noel Farrugia (PL) in reply to a parliamentary question on Tuesday.
There is no doubt that there is wide dissatisfaction with the new transport system, which does not mean that the old one did not need to go. But replacing a bad system with one that is slightly better for commuters and hell for road users was certainly not the right solution.
What most complain about is that we have changed one kind of dinosaur for another. There also seems to be more discontent among road users since as a spokesman for Labour leader Joseph Muscat rightly put it, “they are evidently not good for Maltese roads”.
Though I must say, I can’t see why Joseph Muscat needs a spokesman for such a statement. Is this delusions of grandeur? I am probably hammering yet another nail in my coffin by criticising both parties. If only Franco was not such a puffed up, spoilt brat with no idea of team work, who can’t get his act together, we could perhaps see an Independent Party flourish here. It is sorely needed.
Unfortunately, I can only dream on. If the European Parliament is any kind of yardstick, Independents having any influence is unlikely. But I digress again. Back to the buses, the Transport Ministry’s response, “Their capacity means they can carry several busloads of passengers in one go”, to Boris’s comments, just further impressed me that what this government wants to do is herd us like cattle into boxes. Of course Ministers shall still be chauffeured in their limos.
How can anyone who travels on Maltese roads come up with the statement, "By our mathematics that is considerably less congestion, rather than more”? Obviously, the Transport Ministry can’t do maths. The congestion caused by the buses is consistent and widespread, which further strengthens my theory that the idea is to push us off the roads.
We are to live in monstrous, overcrowded boxes that look like chicken coops and travel in articulated buses that carry up to four buses worth of passengers, the latter according to the Transport Ministry spokesperson, who added, “Maltese passengers appreciate the comfort and sheer capacity of articulated buses”.
Is it possible that the Transport Ministry does not keep tabs on public opinion? The question of “comfort” on the second hand buses is disputed by many commuters. Some complain that the air conditioning is set at too cold a temperature and if it does not work one cannot open a window to let in some air. “The smell of sweat is overwhelming” was what one commuter told me. As for the bendy-buses they are not for those susceptible to motion sickness.
It is also interesting to note that the predecessor to the Transport Authority had recommended that we needed smaller rather than larger buses and that bendy-buses were not suitable for our roads.
Londoners managed to get rid of the bendy buses by their vociferous complaints. As someone who lived in London for a large chunk of my adult life I know that Londoners, unlike us, do not shrug their shoulders and say “m’hemmx xtagħmel” (can’t be helped). It is up to us now to say “hemm x’tagħmel, let’s get rid of them.
Article published in the Malta Independent on Sunday on 14 October 2012
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