Bus patronage up by 15%

Malta Public Transport carried over 10.4 million passengers between January and March this year, representing a 15% increase when compared to the number of passengers carried in the first quarter of last year.

This increase is represented across all customer segments, the company said.

“It is not only the strong increase in incoming tourists which has resulted in additional passengers, as the use of the personalised tallinja card increased by 10%, and this is typically used by those residing in Malta. The use of the adult tallinja card increased by 13%. This was followed by the student tallinja card with a 12% increase, where almost half of the passengers are over 18 years old, and are choosing to travel by bus instead of a private car. This indicates a turnaround in the public’s mindset towards public transport,” MPT said.

The popularity of the personalised tallinja card continued to increase, with 7,000 new registrations in the first three months of the year. The company also noted an increase in the number of frequent passengers. When comparing the number of passengers who made over 60 trips during the first three months in 2017 and 2016, a significant increase of 7% was registered this year.

Thanking the passengers for choosing to travel by bus, MPT General Manager Konrad Pulé said: “We are very pleased to see a consistent growth in the use of our service, with more and more people using the bus. This is very encouraging, and continues to motivate us to invest further in our service.”

The company will be introducing additional buses in the coming months. It will also be introducing special direct services that will add capacity to the current network, besides offering passengers a quicker way to get to their destination.