Malta’s free transport in doubt despite record-breaking numbers

Malta’s public transport company has announced that a record 5.8 million passengers travelled by bus across the country during May 2023.

The figure surpasses the previous milestone of 5.7 million in August 2019, and comes eight months after the introduction of free public transport on most routes in October 2022.

“The consistent passenger growth is indicative that confidence in public transportation is strengthening,” said Konrad Pulé, General Manager of Malta Public Transport.

“In fact, the percentage of people travelling by bus, when compared to travelling by private car or other modes of transport, has increased to 11 percent in 2023, from eight percent in 2021.

“This represents a positive modal shift towards public transport.

“It is now becoming critical to sustain this positive trend by introducing bus priority measures that will make journey times shorter and more punctual. This will encourage more people to switch from private cars to the bus.”

Uncertain future

Pulé did not reference the free public transport initiative when speaking about the figures however, and last week the country’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister Aaron Farrugia cast doubt on whether the scheme would be extended.

In an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday last week, Farrugia said that this coming October – one year after the introduction of the scheme – the government will “take stock of the situation and then decide on the way forward”.

“There is a large segment [of the population] who says that even if it [public transport] is perfect, they won’t use it.

“Not counting those, there are people who are ready to consider using it, provided that it’s reliable, on time, efficient, professional and so on,” he explained.

“But even if we were to double the bus fleet, they would still be stuck in traffic.”

Value for money

Malta is spending €6 million (US$6.45 million) a month to sustain free transport, but some have questioned whether this represents value for money.

“Did we see the shift we wanted in the country with free public transport?” said Farrugia.

“How many Maltese youths, adults, workers truly left their cars and, maybe twice or three times a week started using public transport?”

“I don’t think this happened.”

Despite the reported increase in bus use and a slight decrease in car use when looking at the modal share – from 75.6 percent in 2022 to 74.5 percent in 2023 – the overall number of vehicles on Malta’s roads has risen steadily over the past decade, mainly attributed to the increase in its population.

At the end of March 2023, the stock of licensed motor vehicles stood at 426,720, while a year earlier this was 414,669.

In April, the government announced a €35 million active travel plan to promote walking, cycling and intermodal transport through mobility hubs in a bid to cut car use.

Cities Today contacted Malta Public Transport regarding the impact of free public transport on  passenger numbers but did not receive a response.

Image: Malta public transport