Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1389773
3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 JULY 2021 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications A sorry state of affairs I write for the second day in a row, as I have to trek to Mater Dei Hospital from Swatar in the killer heat in order to catch bus 31 northbound (1 July, at 4:30pm, at Sisla bus stop in Swatar, BUS847, route 31, direction Bugibba). This, in my view, is just a tiny reflec- tion of all that is going very wrong in this tiny country. Dear Mr Konrad Pule, if it is a new MPT policy that on the fleet of larger buses only five standing passengers are allowed at any one time, then this policy is unacceptable and unsustainable in its current state. Is it imposed by the Health Authori- ties? If that is the case, then I invite you all gentlemen to have a meeting to devise a proper, functional, COVID-compliant, 21st-century public transport solution that properly serves the Maltese popu- lation with some dignity. This means increasing the frequency of buses, and using more taxpayers' money if need be (there should be no problem coming up with enough funds for that – so much is being wasted on trusts positions for do- ing nothing but sitting pretty and pleas- ing some elected – supposedly – people's representative). Dear Hon. ministers, if, with just a fraction of the normal tourist numbers, the system is already highly dysfunction- al, then please do something and fix it fast before greater numbers of visitors start arriving, further exacerbating the situation. I do not want to own my own vehicle and contribute to climate change, car- cinogenic fumes, noise and more parking problems and horrendous traffic jams on Maltese roads (by the way, whose idea was the new tiny roundabout in Burmar- rad, causing all the daily bottleneck traf- fic jams all the way up to the top of Tar- ga Gap hill? Let me guess. I am sure: one of the two dozen oligarchs who between them effectively pull all the strings in this country and control Malta). Also, dear ministers and Mr Pule: it is high time that we embark on an ed- ucation campaign to our visiting com- muters. It is inappropriate that people take off their shoes on the bus, filling the place with all the foul smell. Unfortu- nately, it is a recurrent and daily occur- rence (photo attached). I try to respect all the other cultures and customs, but there is a reasonable limit. I also do not wish to use Uber/Bolt taxis or the like. After all, I do not have a well-oiled salary for sitting pretty, nor a chauffeur-driven taxpayer-financed vehicle. I, as a taxpaying citizen (having just paid a few thousand euros in taxes just last week), want and expect a digni- fied public transport system (many sim- ilarly-sized cities in southern Spain, just to provide an example, with much lower per capita GDP, have had proper public transport systems for many years – and they do not embark on 'best in Europe' ultra-hype or even greater illusions of best-in-the-world excellence and lip-ser- vice greenwashing). Ministers, please take some responsi- bility and action, and start delivering a holistic solution for this island. Flooding the whole place with penny-pinch- ing tourists and cheap, underpaid, over-worked and (in my view) abused third-country nationals (because no self-respecting EU national would accept such treatment and degradation in re- turn for peanuts) is a recipe for disaster. This place is becoming ugly, polluted, miserable, heavily overpopulated and unliveable. Finally, dear ministers, if this is also the fault of Bernard Grech, no problem. Just invite him to the meeting and discuss a proper way forward just like grown-up adults, the whole honourable lot of you. You are actually getting handsomely paid for just that. It is not illegal, not immoral, nor life-threatening to discuss and implement efficacious solutions. It is one's duty when one holds the office. Just deliver on what you are expected to, for goodness' sake, the whole lot of you. I would greatly appreciate it (and probably the electorate with some grey matter may respect you and reward you for that too). If even ADPD is to blame, then include them in the discussion of a solution. I am sure that they can teach all of us (myself included) a lot about a sustainable, forward-looking Malta. Bernard Borg Swatar